The Florida Tomato Exchange is asking the Department of Commerce to end a 2019 tomato suspension agreement with Mexico.
Since 1996, five different agreements tried to stop unfair trade practices used by Mexican tomato exporters, but the Exchange says each agreement has proved to be unenforceable.
They are asking the Commerce Department to terminate the 2019 Agreement and impose anti-dumping duties on Mexican tomatoes required by law.
The Executive Vice President of the organization says, “Suspension agreements might be an effective tool for products that can be kept in storage until market conditions improve, but for highly perishable items like fresh tomatoes, there is just too much incentive to evade the reference prices when markets are oversupplied.”
