US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says US farmers have been ‘crushed’ by unfair commerce practices.
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has introduced a 17 % tariff on recent tomatoes from Mexico, scrapping a three-decade-old settlement to spare the produce from anti-dumping duties.
The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the settlement on Monday got here because the clock ticked down for Mexico to achieve an across-the-board commerce take care of the US by August 1 or face a normal tariff of 30 % on its items.
“Mexico stays considered one of our best allies, however for a lot too lengthy, our farmers have been crushed by unfair commerce practices that undercut pricing on produce like tomatoes,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick mentioned in a press release.
“That ends at present. This rule change is in step with President Trump’s commerce insurance policies and strategy with Mexico.”
The Commerce Division had in April introduced its intention to exit the settlement in 90 days, saying it had “failed to guard U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports”.
Mexico provides practically 70 % of tomatoes within the US, up from about 20 % in 1994, in accordance with the Florida Tomato Change.
The Tomato Suspension Settlement, which was first signed in 1996, put a maintain on duties stemming from a US commerce court docket determination that discovered Mexican exporters have been promoting their produce at artificially low costs.
Below the settlement, the US agreed to droop the tariffs supplied that Mexican producers didn’t promote their produce under agreed-upon “reference costs.”
The 2 sides renewed the deal on 4 events, most just lately in 2019.
In a joint assertion, Mexico’s economic system and agriculture ministries condemned the transfer as “unjust” and “towards the pursuits not solely of Mexican producers but additionally of the US business”.
“The beneficial properties made by Mexican recent tomatoes within the U.S. market are as a result of high quality of the product and to not any unfair practices,” the ministries mentioned, including that the tariffs would “solely harm American customers’ wallets, as it will likely be unattainable to exchange Mexican tomatoes.”
