U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Bill Hagerty, Colleagues Reintroduce Legislation to Hold Mexico Accountable for Violating International Law, Protect American Assets
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) joined Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and several of her Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2025, legislation to impose retaliatory prohibitions to deter and punish any nation in the Western Hemisphere that unlawfully seizes American assets.
This legislation responds to ongoing efforts by the Mexican government to seize a deep-water port owned by U.S.-based Vulcan Materials Company in flagrant violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) governing trade between our two nations.
“The threats toward Vulcan’s lawfully permitted, U.S.-owned deep-water port from the Government of Mexico, even under a new president, have not ceased,” said Senator Britt. “Mexico continues to flagrantly violate international law with its actions, putting America’s and Alabama’s economic and national security at risk — and it won’t stand. I’m proud to fight for the rule of law and join Senator Hagerty in introducing the bipartisan Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2025. This reaffirms the U.S. will impose crushing consequences if the Government of Mexico continues to execute its illegal scheme against Vulcan’s property.”
Specifically, this legislation would authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prohibit vessels from entering a U.S. port if they previously used a port, land, or infrastructure that had been illegally seized from a U.S. entity by a foreign nation in the Western Hemisphere. It also empowers the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate and respond to foreign governments that deny U.S. companies fair and equal treatment or that have expropriated, nationalized, or seized U.S. assets.
“I strongly condemn the Mexican government’s threats against Vulcan Materials Company and I am pleased to see this bipartisan and bicameral rebuke from the United States Senate,” said Senator Hagerty. “Under the leadership of Mexico’s previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and now the current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican government is committing a blatant theft against a major American company and, by extension, the United States itself. No nation should be allowed to bully an American firm without consequences. Our legislation will counter any attempt by the Mexican government to profit from illegal moves to expropriate, nationalize, or otherwise seize U.S. assets.”
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 Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) 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. Senator Britt called out the unlawful, unacceptable seizure at the time, saying in part, “The ramifications of this illicit seizure extend into the United States, significantly hamstringing important American infrastructure, energy, and other construction projects that currently rely on Vulcan’s operations in Mexico for materials.”
She also helped lead a bipartisan letter to the Ambassador of Mexico to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, regarding the militarized seizure of the property. After 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.”
In September 2024, the Government of Mexico illegally seized Vulcan’s deep-water port, representing a flagrant expropriation of the property owned by the Alabama-based company.
Senator Britt was also a cosponsor of the Defending American Property Abroad Act in 118th Congress. The full text of the bill can be viewed here.
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