Mexico Finds Some U.S. Allies in Trade Dispute

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The New York Times
Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Mexico Finds Some U.S. Allies in Trade Dispute

By ELISABETH MALKIN

As tomato growers in Florida and some other states fight a 16-year-old agreement that they contend allows farmers in Mexico to export tomatoes at a price below their costs, the Mexican farmers are finding allies in the United States.

The trade dispute highlights the network of interlocking interests between the countries under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trade across the Mexican border is now worth more than $1 billion a day.

American producers of corn, soybeans, apples, pork and chicken have increased sales to Mexico greatly over the years as trade barriers have been dismantled. But at the same time, Mexico has become a fast-growing supplier of produce to American supermarkets and restaurants. Tomatoes lead the list: exports have doubled and their value has tripled since the mid-1990s, to almost $2 billion.

That has been aided by a complex arrangement dating from 1996 that established a minimum price at which Mexican tomatoes are permitted to enter the American market.

Florida farmers are leading a campaign to persuade the Commerce Department to scrap the accord. They won a victory in September when the department announced a preliminary decision to end it. Lawyers in the case say a final decision may be issued in the next few weeks.

But other United States interests are lining up in support of continuing the agreement.

For example, Richard Fimbres, a member of the Tucson City Council who is usually more concerned with improving city streets than with the minutiae of international trade law, recently sponsored a resolution asking the Commerce Department to continue the agreement.

Then he wrote to President Obama last month, declaring that “we can’t turn our back on the global economy now.”

The reason is that fresh Mexican tomatoes are big business in Arizona. Much of the $2 billion in business passes through the state, benefiting local importers and distributors.

But the benefits go beyond them. More than 370 businesses and trade groups — from small family-run importers on the Mexico border to Wal-Mart Stores — have written or signed letters to the Commerce Department in favor of continuing the deal.

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