Tuberville, Britt, Hagerty, and colleagues introduce Legislation to Protect American Assets

September 23, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Tim Kaine (D-Virginia.), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), and John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) introduced the Defending American Property Abroad Act in retaliation to efforts on the part of the Mexican government to seize a port owned by Alabama based Vulcan Materials. The Defending American Property Abroad Act would impose retaliatory prohibitions against the Government of Mexico if it attempts to profit from the pending seizure of Vulcan Materials Company's property and port facility in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

In violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has repeatedly threatened to declare an American company's property as a "Protected Natural Area" to unjustifiably seize their assets.

The Defending American Property Abroad Act would impose retaliatory prohibitions to deter and punish any Western Hemisphere nation that unlawfully seizes American assets. Upon enactment, any vessel that had used a port, land, or infrastructure illegally seized from a U.S. entity by a foreign nation in the Western hemisphere would be prohibited from entering a U.S. port. The legislation would also require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and ban illegally seized ports from U.S. trade and require the U.S. Trade Representative to report to Congress on how such expropriations would be addressed during the upcoming review of the United Sates-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is scheduled for 2026.

"For more than a year, Mexican President López Obrador has continued to show undue aggression toward American businesses, primarily Alabama's Vulcan Materials," said Senator Tommy Tuberville. "The continued escalation against Vulcan's operation in Mexico is a disgrace to the longstanding trade agreement between our two countries for the last 30 years. The Biden-Harris administration has refused to stand up to President López Obrador's threats, which is why it's time for Congress to take action and urgently move this legislation to ensure this doesn't happen to more American companies under a new Mexican president."

"Make no mistake–President López Obrador's scheme to seize Vulcan's deep-water port would represent a flagrant expropriation of a lawfully permitted, U.S.-owned operation, and his administration's assault on the rule of law is putting America's and Alabama's economic and national security interests in jeopardy," said Senator Katie Britt. "We have repeatedly warned him that there will be substantial ramifications if his administration crossed this line. Our bipartisan Defending American Property Abroad Act makes it clear that we will keep our promises. The United States is prepared to meet President López Obrador's illegal actions, which violate both Mexican and international law, with crushing consequences."

"I strongly condemn AMLO's threats against Vulcan Materials Company and am pleased to see this bipartisan rebuke from the United States Senate," said Senator Bill Hagerty. "No nation or president, and especially one of our largest trade partners, should be allowed to bully an American firm without consequences. Our legislation will help to undermine any attempt by AMLO to profit from his illegal actions and, in the event of a seizure, would strengthen our nation's position in trade negotiations with Mexico."

"In recent years, Mexican President López Obrador has unfairly targeted Vulcan Materials Company, a U.S.-based company that employs over 1,000 people in Virginia," said Senator Tim Kaine, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. "That's why I'm introducing this bipartisan legislation with my colleagues to deter Mexico and any country in our hemisphere from illegally seizing U.S. assets. We must make it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated. On the heels of Mexico's controversial judicial reforms, this behavior only further harms the economic relationship between our two countries, as well as global investor confidence in Mexico."

Vulcan Materials Company is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2018, Vulcan initiated a NAFTA arbitration against Mexico in response to harassment, illegal land-use changes, and the unlawful shutdown of operations on a portion of Vulcan's property in Quintana Roo. In May 2022, Vulcan's production and port operations at the property were fully shut down using Mexican military force on President López Obrador's orders.

On March 14, 2023, Vulcan Materials Company's port facility at Punta Venado in Quintana Roo, Mexico, was breached and confiscated at gunpoint by Mexican military and police forces. Senators Tuberville and Britt called out the unlawful, unacceptable seizure at the time. She then helped lead a bipartisan letter to the Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, regarding the militarized seizure of the property. Following a meeting between Alabama's congressional delegation and Ambassador Moctezuma, it was announced that Mexican forces withdrew from the property.

Following that invasion, AMLO continued to threaten to forcibly take over Vulcan's port and limestone quarry, forcing their operations out of Mexico, despite the company's consistent presence in Mexico for more than 35 years.

In May 2024, Senators Britt, Kaine, Hagerty, and Tuberville wrote Alicia Bárcena, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, marking the two-year anniversary of the initial militarized shutdown of the property and urging the Government of Mexico "to reverse the actions taken against Vulcan and work towards a beneficial solution for all parties involved."

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