Florida tomato growers want US to terminate Mexico trade deal
A trade group is asking on the U.S. to finish the 2019 Tomato Suspension Agreement with Mexico, saying it has did not protect Florida growers against unfair trade practices.
The Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE) said Mexico-based growers proceed to dump tomatoes into the U.S. — selling them for lower than it costs to supply them — and alleging that the cheaper imports undercut the domestic market.
“Despite the nice faith efforts of the Commerce Department during the last 4 years, the 2019 Suspension Agreement has not been in a position to close the loopholes which have at all times been an issue,” Michael Schadler, the tomato exchange’s executive vice chairman, said in a press release.
The FTE recently filed a request with the Commerce Department to finish the agreement since it has “did not stop unfairly traded Mexican tomatoes from destroying the U.S. tomato industry,” based on a news release.
“It’s develop into clear that these agreements are simply not enforceable, a minimum of with regards to the tomato trade with Mexico,” Schadler said. “Suspension agreements is likely to be an efficient tool for products that could be kept in storage until market conditions improve, but for highly perishable items like fresh tomatoes, there’s just an excessive amount of incentive to evade the reference prices when markets are oversupplied.”
Tomatoes sold within the U.S. from Mexico are controlled by the U.S. Department of Commerce through the Tomato Suspension Agreement, which sets minimum pricing and regulates sales between growers and importers.
Florida growers have been pushing for more restrictions on Mexican-grown tomatoes for years. Since 1996, the U.S. and Mexico have negotiated five separate agreements regarding tomato imports.
In 2019, the FTE lobbied for stricter quality control on Mexican-grown tomatoes and more enforcement of import pricing.
As a part of the 2019 Tomato Suspension Agreement, Mexico-based growers agreed to not sell tomatoes below a reference price, a seasonably adjusted floor price at which Mexican tomatoes can’t fall underneath and still be exported to the U.S.
The 2019 agreement was speculated to protect U.S. tomato growers by eliminating “the injurious effects of Mexican tomatoes, in addition to price suppression and undercutting,” based on a news release from the Department of Commerce.
“The department’s motion brought the Mexican growers to the negotiating table and led to a result that protects U.S. tomato producers from unfair trade,” former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a press release. “It also removes major uncertainties for the Mexican growers and their employees.”
Following the signing of the 2019 agreement, the FTE said the deal was a “step in the suitable direction to stop further injury to American farmers attributable to dumped Mexico tomatoes.”
In 1994, U.S. tomato growers supplied about 80% of the U.S. market while Mexico accounted for 20%, based on the FTE. “Today, Mexico’s share of the U.S. market is sort of 70% while U.S. producers have roughly 30%.”
In 2022, Mexico exported $2.7 billion value of tomatoes to the U.S., based on the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Laredo customs district in South Texas — which incorporates Laredo’s World Trade Bridge and the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Pharr — accounts for nearly all of tomato imports from Mexico, followed by the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona.
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While growers in Florida are urging the U.S. to finish the 2019 agreement, officials for the Nogales-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) said killing the agreement would only end in harming American consumers.
“The FTE has been making the identical false claims for years, but when pressed to present evidence in regulatory proceedings, they’ve did not achieve this because their claims are unfaithful, nothing but propaganda intended to skew the political process to their advantage, no matter the associated fee to consumers, retailers, and even other American farmers,” Lance Jungmeyer, FPAA president, said in a news release.
“The duties which might be being sought by the FTE would harm U.S. importers, but would ultimately be paid by American consumers who want higher tomatoes, not higher prices, reduced varieties, and lower quality tomatoes.”
Texas border bridge shut down temporarily by migrant crossings
Migrant issues forced the closure of the Veterans International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, for about an hour Thursday.
The business cargo facilities on the bridge were closed from 6 to 7 p.m., based on Armando Taboada, assistant director of field operations at Customs and Border Protection’s Laredo Field Office.
“The Veterans International Bridge resumed normal operations after 7 p.m.,” Taboada said in an email to the trade community on Friday. “The Laredo field office and port directors proceed to watch the migrant situation and are able to implement our business resumption contingency plans. Truck and railroad shipments proceed to be consistent and increasing.”
Veterans International Bridge spans the border between the cities of Brownsville and Matamoros, Mexico.
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Union Pacific to supply rail access to Arizona industrial park
Union Pacific (UP) railroad announced it is going to provide rail service to the brand new Buckeye Industrial Rail Park in Buckeye, Arizona.
The 260-acre rail park is zoned for distribution, logistics, heavy manufacturing and technology development. Positioned 40 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, the rail park provides access to several major highways, based on a news release.
The park’s first tenant, Rehrig Pacific Co., recently broke ground on a 260,000-square-foot injection molding plastics manufacturing plant.
“Rehrig Pacific’s groundbreaking represents the primary of many exciting opportunities to serve this latest industrial park,” Shelly Huckfeldt, UP’s manager of commercial development, said in a press release.
Tesla issues 2nd recall for electric Semi truck
Automaker Tesla recently issued a voluntary recall of 36 of its all-electric Class 8 Semi trucks to repair a software update to make sure the side door warning system works properly.
Officials for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discovered that the door-open warning on the truck’s dash only illuminates if the parking brake is disengaged. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards require the warning to be illuminated any time the door is open.
Tesla issued its first voluntary recall in March attributable to a parking brake issue.
Production of the Semi was speculated to ramp as much as as many as 50,000 units starting in 2024. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently said large-scale production of the truck wouldn’t begin until 2025, citing battery supply chain constraints.
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