Most of the imported tomatoes will be affected with a 21% tariff this summer in an effort to “protect” American producers, Trump administration announced on Monday.
The new rate will be implemented on July 14, near the start of the Máximo tomato season, and when the Commerce Department intends to finish a 2019 commercial agreement with Mexico in the red fruit.
“The current agreement has not been able to protect tomato producers from the United States from Mexican imports at unjustly prices,” said a statement issued by the Department of Commerce, noting that the agency has been “flooded with comments” in the first mandate.
“This action will allow tomato producers to compete fairly in the market,” the department added.
“With the termination of this agreement, the trade will institute an anti -dumping tax order on July 14, 2025, which will result in tariffs of 20.91% in most import imports in Mexico,” the statement continued.
The United States imported tomatoes worth $ 2.7 billion in Mexico in 2023, which makes it the main tomato export market for Mexico.
The 2019 agreement with Mexico, which avoided tariffs on the basic product, established minimum price standards in Mexican tomatoes and included a mechanism to inspect and prohibit low quality fruit to enter the US market.
The agreement that the Trump administration plans to withdraw is applied to all fresh and refrigerated tomatoes and excludes tomatoes for processing.
Michael R. Strain, Director of Economic Policy Studies and Senior Member of the Conservative Group of Experts of American Enterprise Institute, argued that the “surprising” policy will increase tomato prices in the United States.
“It is surprising that the Trump administration is intentionally trying to make tomatoes more expectations,” Strain wrote about X. “President Trump won the 2024 elections in large part, Becoaus supermarkets were expectations.”
The tomato duty follows the Trump administration that slapping 25% of the general rates against Mexico in an effort to ensure that the United States neighbor is reduced in illegal immigration and drug smuggration.
The rate excludes imports subject to the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement that Trump negotiated the duration of his first mandate.