Political Powers Help Score Win for Florida Tomato Growers
March 15, 2022 The office of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement after the U.S Department of Commerce recently rejected a request by importers of Mexican tomatoes to exempt certain greenhouse-grown specialty tomatoes from the 2019 U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement, which provides relief to domestic tomato growers against unfair trade practices.
Exempting specialty tomatoes grown in Mexico from the Tomato Suspension Agreement would have directly harmed Florida growers. Earlier this month, Rubio led bipartisan members of the Florida congressional delegation in urging Commerce to protect domestic growers by rejecting the request.
“This is a win for Florida tomato growers,” Rubio says. “Florida’s economy and our national food security depend on robust domestic fruit and vegetable production. We must do everything we can to protect Florida’s growers from unfair trade practices.”
Michael Schadler, Executive VP of the Florida Tomato Exchange, applauds the Commerce Department’s decision in refusing to allow loopholes in the antidumping suspension agreement. “The Commerce Department needs to follow up this decision with strong action to prevent cheating by Mexican exporters that undermines the suspension agreement.”
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