Mexico is in talks with the United States to see if they can agree on a reference price for Mexican tomato exports for the US market.
The reference price should be renewed every five years, as a mechanism that replaces the possible imposition of anti-dumping duties by US customs.
In the previous chapter of this long case, in February 2013, the United States and Mexico reached an agreement on cross-border tomato trade, avoiding a possible trade war between both countries.
On March 4, 2013, the Department of Commerce and the government of Mexico officially signed the agreement suspending the anti-dumping investigation on fresh tomatoes from Mexico.
The dispute began on June 22, 2012, when a group of Florida tomato growers, backed by producers from other states, petitioned the Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission to end a pact that suspended anti-dumping rights on Mexican tomatoes.
The end of the pact, which established a minimum reference price for Mexican tomatoes in the United States, would have effectively led to an anti-dumping investigation on these Mexican vegetables.
The ambassador of Mexico to the United States at that time, Arturo Sarukhan, warned that such action would damage the US and Mexico trade agenda and bilateral trade relations in general.
He also stated that Mexico would use all the resources at its disposal, including the possibility of reprisals, to defend the interests of the Mexican tomato industry.
Mexico exported tomatoes for 1.686 billion dollars to the United States from January to October 2018, i.e. 16.3 percent more than in the same period of the previous year.
