Arizona Delegation Wants to Preserve Mexican Tomato Importing Status Quo
Eight of the 10 members of Arizona's congressional delegation, including both senators, have signed a letter to the Commerce Secretary arguing that the suspension of the Mexico tomato agreement is not in the national interest. "We encourage the Administration to continue to craft agricultural trade policy that seeks to strengthen the industry nationally, not one that is calibrated around regional or seasonal interests," the March 1 letter said. They encouraged Commerce to revise the tomato suspension agreement rather than terminate it without a replacement, because the latter move would create uncertainty in the supply chain and could trigger retaliation against agriculture exports.
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The Florida delegation has been strongly in favor of enforcing antidumping law against Mexican tomatoes that are imported in winter months, when Florida growers are competing with them. They had sought a seasonality provision in the revised NAFTA (see 1901070030 and 1803080041). The Florida-backed legislation would change current law, which requires that 51 percent of produce growers support an antidumping case. As the bipartisan letter from Arizona shows, Western tomato growers do not see Mexican imports as a threat to their business.
The Border Trade Alliance, which brings together more than 80 businesses, trade groups and local governments, sent a nearly identical letter March 6 that said, "Erecting new barriers to trade in fruits and vegetables risks negatively affecting American consumers, the United States agriculture industry, and could jeopardize our country’s trading relationship with one of the U.S.’ leading export destinations, and potentially impact the USMCA ratification process."