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Mexican Tomato Growers Brace for U.S. Import Tariffs
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By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican tomato growers said Wednesday a U.S. decision to end a 1996 agreement suspending antidumping tariffs on imports from Mexico could push up their costs and put them at a disadvantage to other exporters unless a new accord is reached before a May 7 deadline.

The U.S. Commerce Department gave signatories 90 days' notice on Feb. 6 of its intention to terminate the agreement, which set minimum prices for Mexican tomatoes imported into the U.S. It has been renewed three times since 1996, most recently in 2013.

The Florida Tomato Exchange, which represents Florida growers, requested its termination in November, arguing it had too many loopholes and was unenforceable.

Mario Robles, who heads the vegetable division at the Sinaloa state growers association Caades, said if no new agreement were reached by the deadline, Mexican exporters would face tariffs, which were originally set at 17.5% on average of the value of shipments.

That would push up marketing costs for exporters and put them at risk of losing exports to other producing countries since U.S. growers can't meet domestic demand, he said at a press conference in Mexico City.

Mexico's exports of different varieties of fresh tomatoes to the U.S. have more than doubled since the suspension agreement went into effect just two years into the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994. Last year, Mexico exported about 1.7 million metric tons of tomatoes to the U.S., half of its national production, with a value of around $2 billion.

"I think that ultimately we'll reach an agreement, I'm optimistic, but I'm also being realistic," Mr. Robles said. "If we don't reach an agreement, we'd go to show that we haven't caused damage" to U.S. growers.

Florida growers have the support of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who in February sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross calling for an end to the agreement. He argued the pact had allowed unfair competition that put Florida growers out of business.

Termination would restart the U.S. antidumping investigation, and give the department more leverage to secure a new "effective and enforceable" agreement, said the letter signed by 46 U.S. lawmakers.

A group of Arizona legislators including Republican Sen. Martha McSally and Republican Rep. David Schweikert urged Mr. Ross not to end the pact.

"Erecting new barriers to trade in fruits and vegetables risks hurting U.S. consumers and the U.S. agriculture industry," they said in a March 1 letter to Mr. Ross. It could jeopardize the trade relationship with Mexico, one of the principal destinations for U.S. agricultural exports, they added.

Last year, at the height of negotiations to redraw the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico imposed tariffs on U.S. products from pork and cheese to apples and bourbon in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum.

Mexico and the U.S. reached a last-minute agreement in 2017 on U.S. imports of Mexican sugar, averting a trade dispute just months before the start of Nafta talks between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The result of those negotiations -- the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement to replace Nafta -- was signed in November and now needs congressional approval in all three countries.

Write to Anthony Harrup at [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]>

Write to Anthony Harrup at [e-mail]