West Coast growers don't back Florida in fight with Mexico over tomatoes

[Judi Lynn]

By Stuart Leavenworth, McClatchy Washington Bureau
Published: August 13, 2018Updated: August 13, 2018 at 10:27 AM

McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Florida and Mexico are having a food fight over tomatoes and other fresh produce. Will farmers in California and Washington get caught in the crossfire?

That’s one question that swirls around the final negotiations between the Trump administration and Mexico on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement. Growers of tomatoes, strawberries and peppers in Florida and the Southeast say they’ve been hammered by cheap imports of these crops from Mexico, particularly during winter months. They’ve lobbied the Trump administration to make it easier for them to bring "anti-dumping" and "countervailing duty" cases against Mexico in an updated NAFTA agreement.

But growers on the West Coast fear such a provision would prompt Mexico to retaliate, making it harder for them to sell south of the border. Mexico is the United States’ No. 1 market for apples, pears and sweet cherries. Washington state is the nation’s No. 1 producer of all three of these fruits. California is also a major producer, and the nation’s No. 1 cultivator of tomatoes.

"There’s not a consensus view among growers in the U.S. on this issue," said Michael C. Camunez, chief executive of Monarch Global Strategies and a former assistant Commerce secretary. If Florida and Georgia growers were allowed to go after Mexico, he said, "it would open the door toward retaliation against other products from the United States."

More:
https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/agriculture/West-Coast-growers-don-t-back-Florida-in-fight-with-Mexico-over-tomatoes_170852414

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142132664