A food fight is brewing between Florida and other states over what may seem the unlikeliest of reasons.
Tomatoes.
Americans love the red, vine-ripened fruit, eating 600 million each year.
Some of those tomatoes are grown in Florida, where the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE) is asking the Department of Commerce to step in and reduce the flow of tomatoes grown in Mexico. Florida farmers don’t like the competition.
They want the Biden administration to terminate the Tomato Suspension Agreement (TSA), a 2019 deal that ensures producers sell Mexican tomatoes at or above the TSA reference price to “eliminate the injurious effects of exports of fresh tomatoes to the United States.” According to the Florida Tomato Exchange, the TSA does not work and instead keeps Mexico from facing any retribution for dumping tomatoes onto the U.S.
Michael Schadler, executive vice president of the FTE, wrote, “All five suspension agreements over the last 27 years have failed. They haven’t stopped Mexican tomatoes from being dumped in the U.S. market and haven’t stopped injury to the U.S. industry.”
Not so fast, says the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA). It warns tomato prices will jump 50% if the TSA is changed or done away with and anti-dumping duties are imposed on tomatoes imported from Mexico.
The real issue is protectionism, critics say, which results in higher consumer prices in places like Arizona.
“You have a group of Florida tomato producers who obviously want to expand their business, which is great, and we’re all for that. But what they are proposing would hurt Arizona’s trade with Mexico,” said Mike Huckins, senior vice president of public affairs and IT operations at the Greater Phoenix Chamber.
Speaking in defense of the current trade agreement, Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, said, “If the administration opts to terminate this agreement, it will cause significant economic damage to countless communities in Arizona, Texas and beyond, while also sending tomato prices skyrocketing for consumers across the country at a time when many American families are already struggling with the cost of living.”
Florida politicians aren’t backing down.
In September, 59 members of Congress, including Florida senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott (Republicans) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, asked the commerce secretary to terminate the TSA. Those opposing the TSA claim the termination and imposition of anti-dumping duties is “necessary to stop the destruction of the American tomato industry by unfairly traded Mexican tomatoes.”
That same month, a bipartisan group of 34 members of Congress sent their own letter urging the administration to uphold the current agreement.
If the TSA is terminated, Huckins said people will see an increase in their grocery bills.
“Given the issues that we’ve had with inflation, I don’t think that’s something that anybody is going to be looking forward to or would like to see.”
Chris Woodward writes about industry and technology for InsideSources.com.
