Florida-based growers celebrated the victory when the Trump administration announced a new 17% tariff on Mexican tomatoes. For years they had pushed to end a trade deal that they said could not prevent Mexican imports from flooding the market.
But greenhouse producers, importers and industry groups in Arizona and Texas have blown up withdrawal from the Department of Commerce contract and warn that prices will increase and our work will cost.
“There has to be a better way to business than to task the product consumers want,” said Rodolfo Spielmann, CEO of Naturesweet, who grows greenhouse tomatoes in Arizona and Mexico.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, he has fought a drastic trade war to promote domestic industry and specific political demands. Earlier this month, he threatened to impose a 30% tariff on Mexico as he allegedly failed to dismantle the drug cartel. However, the collection of tomatoes is clear. It is due to the termination of nearly 30-year trade agreements endemic to Mexican tomatoes.
Producers like Spielman wanted the agreement to be renegotiated instead. As NatureSweet works on both sides of the border, he says it is impossible to scale back Mexican operations without damaging domestic operations.
Spielmann said the footprint of Naturesweet’s Arizona Greenhouse could hold 30 football fields. The company, which sells tomatoes primarily in grocery stores, had planned to more than double its capabilities in the US, in response to growing demand and desire to innovate. But he said it is now pending its expansion due to changes in trade policy.
He says the new tariff will help Florida growers who plant mostly in open fields at the expense of everyone else, including consumers who have become accustomed to enjoying the vast variety of tomatoes grown in greenhouses all year round.
“We understand that we need to protect Florida’s tomato production, but we need to protect the total US tomato production,” Spielman said.
Moving more operations to the US presents a NatureSweet hurdle. He explained that Mexico’s climate is good for growing tomatoes. Additionally, some H-2A visa programs for farm workers do not take into account the greenhouse effect that requires employees for a year.
Moving more greenhouses to the US “has cost years of money and a lot of money,” said Tomstenzel, executive director of the Environmental Agriculture Alliance, which includes members including greenhouse tomato producers operating in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Economists warn that the new tomato tax could mean a price increase of up to 10%, harming both tomato-dependent consumers and restaurants. An industry group representing Mexican tomato distribution companies in the US says workers are currently at risk.
“There are so many factors that have this wide range of tomatoes and all of these different kinds of foods that bring all of these to store shelves,” said Dante Galeazzi, CEO and president of the Texas International Agricultural Products Association, which represents warehouses that process imported agricultural products.
The White House did not answer questions, but introduced NBC News in a statement last week when it announced the end of the trade deal. “Mexico remains one of our biggest ally, but for too long our farmers have been crushed by unfair trade practices,” he said.
Critics say the trade deal’s safeguards did not prevent Mexican tomatoes from being “dumped.”
“People say, ‘You’re a protectionist,” said Tony Dimare, president of Dimare Fresh, who operates in Florida and California.
The number of family farms has been declining in recent years, according to Robert Gunter, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Exchange, who led the original trade lawsuit against Mexican imports. Mexican tomatoes currently account for around 70% of tomatoes consumed in the US
“This helps as we’re talking about a 100-year domestic tomato supply that we don’t want to see,” he said. He said the Commerce Department’s decision to impose a dumping prevention obligation is consistent with tariffs imposed on other products.
Political leaders and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in Texas and Arizona are not convinced that the tomato tax will ultimately benefit the United States. A statement from Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs cites a Texas A&M study that said about 50,000 jobs in Arizona and Texas have been appointed to Tomatoes.
“Donald Trump’s reckless trade war is raising prices, threatening our economic growth and killing our jobs,” she said.
In June, four Republican lawmakers from Arizona and Texas warned against waiving the agreement in a letter to Lutnick. “The agreement promoted agricultural innovation without American employment, stabilization and government interference,” they wrote.
Republican-controlled Congress in Texas has passed a resolution opposed the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the agreement.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a stubborn Trump ally and signed last month.
