Tomato suspension dispute threatens to expand

The tomato suspension agreement dispute between Mexico and the United States threatens to envelop more and possibly all agriculture trade between the nations.

The Mexican Agriculture Secretary sent a letter to U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue last month saying the Department of Commerce proposal that all tomato loads crossing from Mexico to the U.S. be inspected for quality and condition defects is unfeasible and unnecessary.

Secretary Victor Villalobos provided documentation that shows in the last 3 ½ years, there have been no significant product refusals due to quality defects. He said such a proposal is contrary to the spirit of the bilateral cooperation.

He also warned Perdue that kind of provision could be perceived as illegal and lead to requests from domestic farmers to adopt similar measures against U.S. products coming into Mexico, not only for fruits and vegetables, but also meat, grains and dairy.

Indeed, on July 31, grower-members of the CAADES association sent a letter to Villalobos asking him to tell the U.S. Department of Commerce that the inspection provision should be rescinded, or Mexico will:

-apply quality inspections on all U.S. agriculture goods coming into Mexico;
-investigate subsidies of U.S. corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum, dairy and rice, which distort the Mexican market; and
-inform the U.S. government that Mexico will impose the same methods of investigation being done by the DOC on tomatoes.

As of Aug. 2, Villalobos had not indicated his response to the growers’ letter.