Arizona Senators Question Inspection, Rejection Planks in New Tomato Suspension Agreement
Arizona's two senators -- a Democrat and a Republican -- are questioning the Commerce Department's efforts to update a recently terminated agreement between Mexico and the U.S. that ended an old antidumping case against Mexican tomatoes.
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The reopening of the agreement, cheered by Florida politicians (see 1903140079), is opposed by Arizona agricultural interests. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., issued a press release Aug. 14 about the letter they sent to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on the issue.
Ensuring that Mexican produce exporting "continues as freely and robustly as possible is a top priority for us," they wrote. They criticized a plank of the suspension that would mandate how U.S. buyers are compensated for spoiled tomatoes, calling it unworkable. "This provision would create an uneven playing field for domestic sales of imported tomatoes and make it exceedingly difficult for U.S. importers of Mexican tomatoes to compete with other sellers," they said.
They also said it's unfair that the new suspension proposal mandates "that every lot of fresh tomatoes imported from Mexico be inspected at the border. Inspection data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that there is no legitimate commercial purpose for a 100 percent inspection mandate on imported Mexican tomatoes. Instead, the inspections would just serve as an artificial barrier to trade. Not only would the inspections add around $270 million in costs, but the Mexican government is likely to impose reciprocal inspections on U.S. exports, further hurting Arizona jobs. And a full-inspection mandate is particularly ill-advised at a time when the land ports of entry are facing delays from staffing and infrastructure shortages."