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Floor Speech

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Mr. HAGERTY. Mr. President, I am here today to discuss worrying developments in Mexico, our neighbors to the south, and to promote a solution in which we can all work together in the next Congress.

Sadly, I also need to call out actions by our own U.S. trade representative that would directly undermine American companies facing threats from Mexico by allowing the Mexican government to expropriate their properties.

Under the leadership of Mexico's previous President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador--colloquially known as ``AMLO''--and current President Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft against a major America company and, by extension, the United States itself.

Earlier this year, AMLO launched an aggressive campaign of intimidation and ``lawfare'' to support the outright theft of assets in Mexico belonging to Vulcan Materials, an Alabama-based company that has been a trusted partner in our Nation's infrastructure development for decades. Vulcan built and operated the only deepwater port on the Yucatan Peninsula and has used it to supply the crushed limestone essential to infrastructure projects from Florida to California.

Vulcan's operations in Mexico are not just a business venture; they form a critical link in our supply chain and a testament to the importance of American investment in Mexico.

But AMLO decided that he wanted Vulcan's assets for himself. Cloaking his true intentions under the facade of environmental claims, AMLO shut down Vulcan's operations and sent armed law enforcement and the military to intimidate Vulcan's employees. And now, under his handpicked successor, President Sheinbaum, Mexico is now seizing Vulcan's deepwater port.

President Sheinbaum now seeks to finalize this theft by declaring the property a naturally protected area.

Let's call this what it is: Corruption dressed up as environmentalism. This is not protection. It is plunder. Lending any credence to this authorization is absurd.

These actions violate international norms. They ignore contractual obligations. They trample over U.S.-Canada-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, again, an agreement where America actually gives preferential trade treatment to Mexico.

Surely America's government is standing up for her own Nation's interest in the face of this brazen misconduct by the government of Mexico, right? Sadly, no. A key reason for the current circumstances is an absence of American leadership, especially at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. America's top trade representatives--or America's top trade negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, along with our State Department, have stood idly by while AMLO and Sheinbaum have escalated their anti-trade and anti-American agenda.

Their inaction has sent a dangerous signal that the United States will allow its businesses around the world to be bullied, its laws to be ignored, and its negotiated agreements to be undermined.

And it gets worse. Now, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, we are learning that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is siding with Mexico against the interests of U.S. firms by reinterpreting trade rules in a way that will erode the rights of American investors whose property was either confiscated or expropriated.

According to news reports, USTR wants to limit the ability to seek redress by American companies whose property is expropriated.

I stand here before my colleagues in the Senate asking why neither Congress nor the U.S. companies that would be impacted by these actions were ever consulted before the USTR stealthily moved to alter the USMCA agreement in a manner that undermines American interest.

Ambassador Tai and USTR leadership need to clearly understand how negatively their actions will be viewed by this Congress. I can assure you, they will not be forgotten.

Making last minute, 11th-hour changes to U.S. trade agreements without review from Congress or the U.S. companies that would be negatively impacted is outright malpractice. It is a slap in the face of American investors and employers who have risked their capital overseas, and it will drive scarcity and inflation of critical infrastructure materials in the United States if Mexico is allowed to confiscate these assets, including a very strategic deepwater port.

The implications of Mexico's theft and the failure of U.S. trade officials to defend America's interest go far beyond Vulcan materials. They directly attack the foundational principles of reciprocal trade, investor protection, and the rule of law.

If Mexico is allowed to target, without repercussion, a company like Vulcan, one that employs thousands of Americans and has operated responsibly in Mexico for decades, that means no American business is safe in Mexico. This kind of lawlessness will shatter investor confidence in Mexico. Why would any U.S. company risk capital in a country where contracts are meaningless, regulations are weaponized, and property can be seized at the government's whim?

This erosion of trust threatens not only American jobs, but also the economic integration of North America, which many think is vital to our national security and our global competitiveness.

Let's remember what the USMCA was supposed to be: a safeguard for trade and investment, a framework to protect the rule of law, and a cornerstone of North American prosperity.

AMLO and Sheinbaum have shredded the spirit of this agreement by expropriating Vulcan's port and its property and by pursuing an anti- investor agenda. AMLO and Sheinbaum are acting like saboteurs of the partnership that binds our two nations.

Congress must respond with strength and resolve, rather than roll over under the ruse of environmentalism. The U.S. Trade Representative should follow its duty as stated on its own website to protect American rights under our trade agreements and ``ensure that American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses receive the maximum benefit under our international trade agreement.'' What USTR is contemplating now is anything but that.

That is why my colleagues and I are fully committed to passing S. 5137, the Defending American Property Abroad Act. This legislation will ensure that those who benefit from stolen American assets, whether they be individuals or governments, face substantial consequences.

The Defending American Property Abroad Act will prohibit vessels that utilize expropriated American infrastructure from ever entering U.S. ports. It will bar such facilities from U.S. trade and mandate a full accounting of these violations in the upcoming 2026 USMCA review. The Defending American Property Abroad Act will make clear to President Sheinbaum that the United States will not tolerate the theft of American property.

AMLO and Sheinbaum must understand that their actions will have serious consequences. I will not stand by as Mexico betrays its commitments and undermines decades of cooperation.

The United States must defend its companies, its workers, and its principles with unwavering strength. That is why I am calling on my colleagues to join me in urgently finalizing and passing the Defending American Property Abroad Act in the next Congress. This cannot wait.

Mexico's actions are a test of our resolve. If we fail to respond decisively, we will invite further aggression, not just from Mexico but from every foreign leader watching to see if America will defend its interests. The United States should never be bullied, stolen from, or too feckless to respond to efforts to undermine its strength and sovereignty.

And here at home, USTR leadership must immediately reverse course from its plan to renegotiate trade rules and pull the rug from under U.S. firms--a particularly disgraceful capstone, I might say, for the reputation of this outgoing administration.

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