McALLEN — Texas lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to delay the tip of a tomato commerce settlement with Mexico, warning that not doing so may immediate the price of tomatoes to leap and trigger Texas to lose 1000’s of jobs.
The Tomato Suspension Settlement is a 1996 commerce settlement requiring producers and exporters to promote Mexican produce at or above a particular worth to guard American growers. It’s set to finish Monday, and when it does, U.S. firms will probably be required to pay a 17% tariff on every cargo of tomatoes they buy from Mexico.
U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen, and state Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Republican from Rio Grande Metropolis, sounded the alarms throughout a Friday information convention held at one of many dozens of produce warehouses in South McAllen.
About 70% of all tomatoes within the U.S. come from Mexico, and the tariff could lead on customers to pay as a lot as 50% extra for them, in response to a examine by Arizona State College.
“It isn’t simply Texas and Arizona, it’s American households that eat greater than 20 kilos of recent tomatoes yearly,” mentioned Dante Galeazzi, CEO and president of Texas Worldwide Produce Affiliation. “Undoing this settlement will undo three a long time of stability.”
Tomato imports from Mexico additionally play a big position in worldwide commerce alongside the border.
In 2024, greater than 2.1 billion kilos of tomatoes have been imported via Texas ports of entry in cities like Pharr, Laredo and Roma. Suspending the settlement may result in an estimated lack of 32,000 jobs concerned within the importing and advertising of tomatoes, in response to a Senate Analysis Heart evaluation of a Texas Home decision handed by state lawmakers calling on the U.S. Division of Commerce to increase the tomato settlement.
Produce warehouses are additionally anticipated to see extreme reductions in gross sales, due to the upper price ticket for customers, and in earnings, due to the tariff prices firms should pay. This might result in an estimated financial lack of greater than $4.5 billion within the state, the evaluation discovered.
Throughout the Texas legislative session this 12 months, Guillen was among the many lawmakers who launched the decision, which was permitted by each chambers and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June.
The Commerce Division introduced in April it will withdraw from the commerce settlement, which was met with cheers by lawmakers and tomato growers in Florida.
A Florida congressional delegation penned a letter final month accusing Mexico of flooding the market with tomatoes priced beneath honest market worth, a follow generally known as dumping.
“The termination of the suspension settlement will enable U.S. tomato growers to compete pretty within the market,” the lawmakers wrote.
However Gonzalez and Guillen are hoping for a 90-day reprieve, hoping the Commerce Division will look nearer on the impacts the tip of the commerce settlement may have on customers.
“Let’s not flip this into one other disaster for the American individuals,” Gonzalez mentioned.
Reporting within the Rio Grande Valley is supported partly by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune, a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and fascinating Texans on state politics and coverage.
