U.S., Mexico reach tomato agreement
The United States and Mexico have settled a bitter trade dispute over tomatoes, with the U.S. shelving an anti-dumping investigation against Mexican growers and withdrawing from tariffs that could have led to shortages and significantly higher prices.
Under the buzzer-beater agreement, reached just before a Wednesday deadline, 92 percent of imported Mexican tomatoes will be subject to inspection before crossing the border, according to a statement from the Confederation of Agricultural Associations of the State of Sinaloa.
It also dictates that Mexican growers raise the reference price of specialty tomatoes, and charge 40 percent more for organic tomatoes than conventional ones.
“In the final moments of Aug. 20, Mexican tomato producers reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, which will allow the anti-dumping investigation to be suspended,” Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Marquez tweeted. “This result is good news because it will allow the market to be kept open for our tomato exports to the United States.”
In early February, the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would be pulling out of the Tomato Suspension Agreement — which has set the parameters of the two nations’ tomato trade since 1996 — in part due to pressure from Florida lawmakers and the Florida Tomato Exchange, a U.S. trade organization, which alleged Mexican growers were exploiting the agreement to dump cheap tomatoes into the United States and undermine American farms.
The termination of that pact called for a 17.5 percent tariff on imported Mexican tomatoes, which make up more than half of the U.S. tomato market. An April study from economists at Arizona State University predicted the collapse of the agreement would leave Americans paying 40 percent to 85 percent more for one of their favorite fruits by winter.
U.S. growers contend that as a result of Mexican practices, U.S. tomato production declined by 34 percent, from 4.4 billion pounds to 2.9 billion pounds, between 2002 and 2017. Mexican tomato imports to the United States skyrocketed 125 percent, from 1.6 billion pounds to 3.6 billion pounds, during the same period.
“Tomato growers shouldn’t have to lose their livelihoods because of a bad deal imposed upon them by their own government, and that’s exactly what was happening under the previous suspension agreement,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who led the charge to reopen the anti-dumping investigation, said in a statement earlier this month. “The fact remains that the Mexicans have avoided serious negotiations for well over a year, preferring to use scare tactics and inflammatory rhetoric to try to force President Trump and Secretary Ross to back down on their commitment to ensure that American tomato growers are able to fairly compete in our own domestic market.”
Mexican growers fervently disputed accusations of dumping and unfair practices, arguing that Florida’s declining tomato industry was a result of its difficulty in producing quality, affordable products.