At an event in South Florida with the Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., focused on efforts to protect specialty crop growers from competition from Mexico.
Earlier this month, Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in the Senate and Curbelo with U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., as cosponsors, brought out the “Agricultural Trade Improvement Act" which adjusts the Tariff Act of 1930 to “allow American specialty crop growers to request the imposition of antidumping or countervailing duties.”
“Under current law, a trade remedy petition requires the support of either 25 percent of the domestic industry that produces a similar product or at least 50 percent of the support of all producers of a domestic like product that expressed a position,” Curbelo’s office noted when he brought out the bill at the start of the month. “This legislation would have the equal authority of a seasonality/perishable provision in NAFTA that Curbelo has been encouraging the Administration to include in the final deal. If the bill becomes law, specialty crop growers would be better prepared to take on Mexico’s unfair and opaque trade practices.”
On Wednesday, Rubio and Curbelo made the case for their legislation while they gathered input from local farmers.
“Today’s roundtable with the Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau was productive as we discussed the concerns of our Florida growers,” Rubio said. “Specifically we discussed how we can level the playing field for Florida’s fruit and vegetable growers who are unfairly competing with Mexico’s illegal dumping. One of the most important ways we can do that is by passing the Agricultural Trade Improvement Act of 2018, a bipartisan and bicameral bill that would allow Florida growers to denounce unfair trade practices by Mexico to the ITC and the U.S Department of Commerce.”
“The United States benefits greatly when we trade with partners and allies that share our same democratic values, but it must also be fair” Curbelo said. “Unfair trade practices that put American growers at a disadvantage threaten our economy and food supplies. While recent renegotiations of NAFTA have not produced positive results for specialty crop growers yet, Senator Rubio and I are dedicated to utilizing every avenue to secure protections for growers here in South Dade and throughout the state of Florida. Our bipartisan and bicameral legislation is just one of the ways we will continue to apply pressure and ensure specialty crop growers remain a priority in negotiations.”
