Latest news with #tomato
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Moves to Impose 17% Tariff on Mexican Tomato Imports
By and Alex Vasquez Updated on Save The US government withdrew from a longstanding trade agreement with Mexico governing tomato imports and will push forward with a new tariff of just over 17%, the US Commerce Department announced Monday. For decades, Mexican farmers have supplied American shoppers with a growing supply of fresh tomatoes, particularly during the winter, even though producers in the US state of Florida have long chafed at the trade flow.
CBS News
a day ago
- Business
- CBS News
Stanislaus County farmer Mexico tomato tariff won't affect his prices
The U.S. just ended a decades-old tomato trade agreement with Mexico, and while prices could soon spike at grocery stores and restaurants across the country, one Stanislaus County farmer says not so fast. Bill Loretelli has been selling fresh produce out of his family-run stand in Riverbank for more than 40 years. His tomatoes are grown right there in the dirt, no international shipping required. "We've been a market for over 40 years," Loretelli said. About 5,000 tomato plants grow on his land each season: from grape and cherry tomatoes to heirloom varieties. Because they're locally grown and sold straight to the customer, a newly announced 17% tariff on Mexican tomato imports won't affect prices at his stand. But a different part of his business will feel it. "We have a small business that supplies maybe 20 taquerias and taco trucks combined," Loretelli said. Those tomatoes are imported and sold wholesale and are expected to cost more, fast. He says prices for his restaurant clients could go up by 30-40%. UC Davis economics professor Ina Simonovska says it all comes down to where you live and where your tomatoes come from. "If the tariff is 20%, then you're looking at a price increase potentially of 20%," she explained. "But we're lucky that we have all the produce here. We're looking at much more of an impact in the northern states." Still, Loretelli doesn't expect the change to bring in a new crowd. "Honestly, very little percentage only because if they were going to come out here, they'd already be out here," he said. But he hopes those who do show up keep showing up, especially as family-run farms like his become harder to find.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
US imposes a 17% duty on fresh Mexican tomatoes in hopes of boosting domestic production
The U.S. government said Monday it is placing a 17% duty on most fresh Mexican tomatoes after negotiations ended without an agreement to avert the tariff. Proponents said the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70% of the U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US imposes a 17% duty on fresh Mexican tomatoes
The U.S. government said Monday it is placing a 17% duty on most fresh Mexican tomatoes after negotiations ended without an agreement to avert the tariff. Proponents said the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70% of U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange. But opponents, including U.S. companies that grow tomatoes in Mexico, said the tariff will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for U.S. buyers. The Commerce Department said in late April that it was withdrawing from a deal it first reached with Mexico in 2019 to settle allegations the country was exporting tomatoes to the U.S. at artificially low prices, a practice known as dumping. As part of the deal, Mexico had to sell its tomatoes at a minimum price and abide by other rules. Since then, the agreement has been subject to periodic reviews, but the two sides always reached an agreement that avoided duties. In announcing its withdrawal from the Tomato Suspension Agreement, the Commerce Department said in late April that it had been 'flooded with comments' from U.S. tomato growers who wanted better protection from Mexican imports. But others, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Association, had called on the Commerce Department to reach an agreement with Mexico. In a letter sent last week to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Chamber of Commerce and 30 other business groups said U.S. companies employ 50,000 workers and generate $8.3 billion in economic benefits moving tomatoes from Mexico into communities across the country. 'We are concerned that withdrawing from the agreement – at a time when the business community is already navigating significant trade uncertainty – could lead to retaliatory actions by our trading partners against other commodities and crops that could create further hardship for U.S. businesses and consumers,' the letter said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fresh tomato prices could jump as tariff takes affect
The U.S. is pulling out of a three-decade-old tomato trade agreement with Mexico on Monday, while adding between a 17% to 21% tariff on most Mexican tomato imports. The Trump administration said in April it plans to withdraw from the Tomato Suspension Agreement between the two countries that has been in place since 1996. Tomatoes sold in the U.S. from Mexico are controlled by the Department of Commerce through the suspension agreement, which sets minimum pricing and regulates sales between growers and importers. 'The [Tomato Suspension Agreement] has failed to protect U.S. tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports, as Commerce has been flooded with comments from them urging its termination. This action will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace,' the department said in a news release on April 14. Mexican-grown tomatoes account for nearly 70% of the U.S. market, while U.S. growers' share is currently around 30%. In 2024, the U.S. imported $3.12 billion worth of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. This accounted for the majority of the total U.S. tomato imports, which were valued at $3.63 billion, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity and Texas A&M. The Laredo customs district in South Texas — which includes Laredo's World Trade Bridge and the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Pharr — accounts for the majority of tomato imports from Mexico, followed by the border crossing in Nogales, Arizona. Mexican tomato producers signed an agreement with President Donald Trump's first administration in 2019 to end a tariff dispute. As part of the 2019 agreement, Mexico-based growers agreed not to sell tomatoes below a reference price, a seasonably adjusted floor price at which Mexican tomatoes can't fall underneath and still be exported to the U.S. The termination of the agreement has created fierce opposition by farmers and lawmakers in Arizona and Texas versus growers in Florida. The Florida Tomato Exchange claims that Mexico's agriculture industry is dumping tomatoes at margins of up to 273% below the agreed minimums in the U.S. that continues to harm domestic farmers. 'The only way to level the playing field is to end the agreement and enforce fair trade,' Robert Guenther, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, told Fox Business. Trade stakeholders and lawmakers in Texas and Florida said any tariff being placed on imports of Mexican tomatoes will harm their state economies and provide consumers with less choice and higher prices. 'We don't want tomatoes to become the new egg crisis,' Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, said during a news conference on Friday, according to the Rio Grande Guardian. Gonzalez, along with other Texas lawmakers and the Texas International Produce Association (TIPA), are requesting a 90-day delay to withdraw from the agreement to allow more consideration and resolutions for the issue. Dante Galeazzi, CEO of TIPA, said the Tomato Suspension Agreement is crucial to South Texas. 'Terminating this agreement will undo three decades of stability and bring about a 17% duty on all Mexican tomatoes entering this country,' Galeazzi said during the same Friday news conference as Gonzalez. The post Fresh tomato prices could jump as tariff takes affect appeared first on FreightWaves. Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
