AMLO seizes a US port in his last week as president

Mexico seized a port and a quarry owned by the U.S. Vulcan Materials Co. on its Caribbean coast. This was socialist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s latest move in his last week as president of Mexico.

Mexico's socialist government declared the area located south of the tourist cities of Cancun and Playa del Carmen a natural protected area, according to a document in the Official Journal of the Federation.

"The measure prevents the Alabama-based construction company from extracting limestone at a site it has been developing for decades. On Tuesday morning, its shares fell 1.2% to $249.46 in New York," explained Bloomberg which had access to the document.

Meanwhile, Vulcan Materials Co. called the situation an expropriation and argued that it is another step in the breach of agreements by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’a socialist government. 

"The expropriation of the land and port owned by our company is another escalation and is a new violation of Mexico's commitments under North American trade agreements," the company said in a statement.

The company stated that "this illegal measure will have a crippling and long-term effect on trade and investment relations between the United States and Mexico."