Trump tweets praise of new sugar pact with Mexico

President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday praising a new pending sugar deal with Mexico aimed at keeping the southern neighbor from dumping cheap sugar into the U.S. market.

Trump tweeted that the new deal which has been negotiated with Mexico is "a very good one for both Mexico and the U.S. Had no deal for many years which hurt U.S. badly."

The agreement, which was first announced earlier this month, is expected to be formally signed later this week. The U.S. sugar industry estimates they have lost more than $4 billion because Mexico has been flooding the market with subsidized sugar.

"America's sugar producers thank President Trump and his team for defending U.S. jobs, supporting America's sugar farmers, and holding Mexico accountable for breaking U.S. trade laws," said Phillip Hayes, spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, the industry trade group.

Economists, however, complain that only sugar producers and refiners will benefit from the agreement.

"It is a really poor deal for consumers and sugar-using companies," said Daniel Pearson, senior fellow in trade policy at the libertarian Cato Institute. "They're going to pay a higher price."

The new agreement now increases the price at which raw and refined sugar is sold to Mexican mills and reduces Mexico’s refined sugar exports to the United States. In return, the U.S. agreed to suspend duties on Mexican sugar imports.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.