Dante Galeazzi, president and CEO of Texas International Produce Association, moderates a Tomato Suspension Agreement panel discussion at the Viva Fresh Expo on April 26. Panel speakers were Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas; Jason Klinowski of Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt LLC; and J.O. Alvarez Jr., president of J.O. Alvarez Inc. in Laredo, TX.
SAN ANTONIO — On May 7, the U.S. Department of Commerce may withdraw from the Tomato Suspension Agreement regarding Mexican tomato trade. This agreement has been in place since 1996. While withdrawal is likely, there are several possibilities for the outcome of this decision.
If the TSA is withdrawn, it is expected that anti-dumping duties of 17.56 percent would go into place on U.S. imports of Mexican tomatoes. These would be the first U.S. duties on Mexican tomatoes since the TSA was enacted in 1996.
With the looming deadline, there are options as to how Mexican tomatoes will be tariffed, sold and handled. Furthermore, there may be an extension to further study this matter.
These complex questions were discussed in depth April 26 at the Viva Fresh Expo, here.
Dante Galeazzi, president and chief executive officer of the Texas International Produce Association, moderated a TSA panel that included Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, based in Nogales, AZ; Jason Klinowski, agriculture and food law attorney at Wallace Jordan Ratliff & Brandt LLC in Birmingham, AL; and customs house broker J.O. Alvarez Jr., president of J.O. Alvarez Inc. in Laredo, TX.
Jungmeyer opened the panel by outlining a history of the tomato suspension agreement. Jungmeyer said that following its inception in 1996, the TSA was renegotiated in 2002, 2008 and 2013. There has never been a U.S. Department of Commerce finding of dumping Mexican tomatoes into this market. He said after months of renewed encouragement from the Florida Tomato Exchange, in February 2019 Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and other southeastern politicians asked the Department of Commerce to immediately terminate the suspension agreement.
Jungmeyer said that Commerce disagreed there was cause to do so but gave notice of the intent to withdraw TSA on May 7. He added that this timing is critical because the International Trade Commission was to determine by May 9 if the TSA was still needed, or if tomato trade could return to a free market. The Department of Commerce notice of intent to withdraw the TSA on May 7 stopped the ITC process, “which would have shown there is no dumping,” Jungmeyer said.
Klinowski said, “Changes are not going to be insurmountable and are something the industry is going to have to deal with.”
Alvarez detailed bonding issues that will face Mexican tomato handlers should the Tomato Suspension Agreement come to an end.
