U.S. imports of Mexican tomatoes will now carry a provisional 17.5% duty, according to the Commerce Department.
The Mexican government said the country’s tomato growers face more than $350 million a year in losses from U.S. anti-dumping duties on their exports as the U.S. Commerce Department terminated an agreement that had suspended the duties since 1996.
The Commerce Department said it would instruct Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits or bonds, which will be refunded if a revised agreement is reached or the ITC determines there is no injury.
The Arizona-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which represents U.S. importers of Mexican fruits and vegetables, said terminating the suspension agreement will reduce U.S. supplies of tomatoes and raise consumer prices, particularly during the winter season.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Mexican exports of fresh tomatoes to the U.S. have more than doubled in recent decades and were valued last year around $2 billion. Mexico supplies about half of the fresh tomatoes consumed in the U.S., which buys about 95% of Mexican tomato exports.
Not surprisingly, it is the Florida Tomato Exchange, which represents tomato growers in Florida and other U.S. states, that requested the end of the suspension agreement last November.
This is just ugly protectionism.
-RW
I can't help but think of Alasdair Macleod's comparing 1929 and Smoot-Hawley Tariff with Trump's tariffs and the present top of the credit cycle. History repeating itself? This time without a gold standard.
ReplyDeleteAccording to reporting from NPR, the reason Florida tomato growers have been asking for special protections is because Mexican tomato growers pick the tomatos ripe and juicy, whereas Florida growers pick them while they're still green. Yet instead of changing the way they process their product, they run over to daddy government, crying and sobbing about how mean that ugly Market is to them. Oh, and they also claim that the Mexican government unfairly "subsidizes" tomato growers so they can sell below the "fair market value". Consumers, say "Thank you, Mexican taxpayers, for your charity!"
ReplyDelete