Latest news with #Mexican-grown
Epoch Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Mexico's Agriculture Chief Meets With US Officials as Tomato Trade Dispute Looms
Mexico's Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegué said he had a 'very pleasant and productive' meeting in Washington with his U.S. counterpart, Brooke Rollins, as he works to defend a trade pact that has supported the country's tomato exports for nearly three decades. 'We reached agreements that will be beneficial to both countries, including strengthening mechanisms for dialogue and mutual consultation to address ongoing and emerging issues,' he Though Berdegué did not disclose more details about his meetings with Collins, Berdegué also met with Mexican tomato producers—who traveled to Washington to lobby for the longstanding tomato trade agreement—and with 27 representatives from more than two dozen U.S. companies involved in importing, transporting, processing, and distributing Mexican tomatoes. The meetings came as the United States moved to The Commerce Department announced in April that it intends to terminate the agreement, arguing it has failed to protect U.S. tomato producers from unfairly priced Mexican imports. If the withdrawal proceeds, most imports of tomatoes from Mexico will face anti-dumping duties of 20.91 percent. In November 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission Related Stories 5/5/2025 5/3/2025 In the years that followed, industry groups and lawmakers—including bipartisan delegations to Congress from California and Florida, the nation's top two tomato-producing states—repeatedly urged the Commerce Department to either withdraw from the agreement or exempt certain categories of Mexican-grown tomatoes from its provisions. 'Since the first tomato suspension agreement was enacted in 1996, hundreds of U.S. tomato growers across the country have been forced out of business,' a coalition of members of Congress said in a 2019 Mexico, which produces over 3 million metric tons of tomatoes each year and exports about half of that to the United States, hopes to renew the agreement. In a separate post on Tuesday, Berdegué 'They also highlighted that the Mexican tomato has no possible substitute, not only because of its volume but also because of its quality,' he added. Mexico has recently taken steps to ease tensions on other agricultural fronts, including the handling of the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that infests and feeds on the flesh of living animals and, in rare cases, humans. After the United States threatened to suspend cattle imports from Mexico, the two sides Mexico also agreed to
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
White House slapping 21% tariffs on tomatoes from Mexico
The Trump administration plans to withdraw from a trade agreement that lets Mexico export tomatoes to the U.S. duty-free, the Commerce Department said. Starting July 14, tomatoes from south of the border will be tariffed at 20.91%. 'The current agreement has failed to protect U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports, as Commerce has been flooded with comments from them urging its termination. This action will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace,' the department said in a news release Monday. Tomatoes sold in the U.S. from Mexico are controlled by the Department of Commerce through the suspension agreement, which sets minimum pricing and regulates sales between growers and importers. Mexican tomato producers signed an agreement with President Donald Trump's first administration in 2019 to end a tariff dispute. As part of the 2019 agreement, Mexico-based growers agreed not to sell tomatoes below a reference price, a seasonably adjusted floor price at which Mexican tomatoes can't fall underneath and still be exported to the U.S. Mexico exports about 56% of the tomatoes it produces, with 99% of exports destined for the U.S., according to the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, reported Milenio. In 2023, the U.S. market accounted for $2.7 billion worth of tomato exports from Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Laredo customs district in South Texas — which includes Laredo's World Trade Bridge and the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Pharr — accounts for the majority of tomato imports from Mexico, followed by the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona. Officials for the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE) said they support the tariffs on Mexican-grown tomatoes. Florida growers have been pushing for more restrictions on Mexican-grown tomatoes for decades. Since 1996, the U.S. and Mexico have negotiated five separate agreements regarding tomato imports. In June 2023, the FTE requested that the federal government terminate the tomato agreement, alleging that it has 'failed to stop unfairly traded Mexican tomatoes from destroying the U.S. tomato industry,' it said in a news release. 'This is a major victory for American agriculture,' Robert Guenther, FTE executive vice president, said in a news release on Monday. 'For decades, American tomato farmers have suffered from unfair trade practices by Mexican tomato exporters. Terminating this agreement and enforcing U.S. trade laws is the only way to finally give domestic growers the relief they've long deserved.' The post White House slapping 21% tariffs on tomatoes from Mexico appeared first on FreightWaves.
