Members of the Florida delegation on Capitol Hill are backing a new agreement with Mexican tomato growers which, they say, will help farmers in the Sunshine State.
In March, the Trump decision ended an agreement with Mexican tomato growers. Back in February, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. and U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., who sits on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee rounded up more than 45 members of Congress to sign a letter to U.S. Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross to end the agreement, insisting it “has allowed unfair competition to increasingly put U.S. tomato growers out of business” and “terminating the current agreement would restart a U.S. anti-dumping investigation on fresh tomatoes from Mexico while giving Commerce more leverage to try to secure a new suspension agreement that is both effective and enforceable.”
The Florida delegation offered strong support for Rubio and Yoho with Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, Democrat U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, Charlie Crist, Val Demings, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings, Al Lawson, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Stephanie Murphy, Donna Shalala, Darren Soto, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Frederica Wilson and Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Ross Spano, Greg Steube, Michael Waltz and Dan Webster signing on.
This week, the Commerce Department announced it had reached an agreement with Mexican tomato growers and suspended its antidumping (AD) investigation of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. The Commerce Department insisted the new agreement will ensure “that the domestic tomato industry will be protected from unfair trade.” The new agreement will have more than 90 percent of trucks carrying Mexican tomatoes into the U.S. face quality inspections.
“For many years, there have been disputes over the roughly $2 billion worth of tomatoes that are imported from Mexico annually,” Ross said. “These disputes led the Department to terminate an earlier suspension agreement and continue an investigation that could have led to duties of 25 percent for most Mexican tomato producers. After intensive discussions with all parties, we initialed a new draft suspension agreement with the Mexican growers late last night. This draft agreement meets the needs of both sides and avoids the need for antidumping duties.”
The Commerce Department provided some of the details of the new agreement.
“The draft agreement sets reference prices for rounds and romas at $0.31/lb., stem-on tomatoes at $0.46/lb., tomatoes on the vine at $0.50/lb., specialty loose tomatoes at $0.49/lb., and specialty packed tomatoes at $0.59/lb., with organic tomatoes priced 40 percent higher than non-organics. The draft agreement also closes loopholes from past suspension agreements that permitted sales below the reference prices, and includes a brand-new inspection mechanism to prevent the importation of low-quality, poor-condition tomatoes from Mexico, which can have price suppressive effects in the market. In addition, the draft agreement allows the Department to audit up to 80 Mexican tomato producers per quarter, or more with good cause,” the Department noted.
While the agreement should take effect in the middle of next month, in the meantime, members of the Florida delegation backed the new agreement.
“I applaud Commerce Secretary Ross for his work to negotiate a new suspension agreement that is fair to our nation’s hardworking tomato growers. Florida is home to thousands of farmers and produce growers whose livelihoods depend on their success. I will keep fighting to make sure our state’s farmers and growers can succeed and support their families,” Scott said on Wednesday.
“I commend the Department of Commerce and the administration for standing up for our nation’s tomato growers with this new suspension agreement. For over two decades, U.S. tomato growers suffered under an unenforceable agreement and we experienced a substantial loss in the domestic market share,” Yoho said on Wednesday.
“With this new agreement that contains much-improved terms, today marks a new chapter for the U.S. tomato industry. Although it eliminates the anti-dumping investigation, it sets a new standard for quality inspections and increases minimum reference prices on Mexican tomatoes. Our producers are resilient, and they will now be able to better compete with legitimate enforcement mechanisms against unfair trading practices,” Yoho added.
