The United States is pressing Mexico, the top importer of U.S. chickens and turkeys, to relax restrictions imposed on poultry shipments because of an outbreak of a strain of avian flu deadly to birds, an Agriculture Department spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.
Negotiations are playing out as the number of U.S. poultry flocks infected with the disease continues to rise and the cost of the U.S. government response is approaching $50 million.
Government officials are aiming to limit the economic pain the H5N2 flu causes to producers and exporters by asking Mexico to restrict imports only from counties . . .
