Most tomatoes imported from Mexico will face 21% tariffs this summer to “protect” American growers, the Trump administration announced Monday.
The new rates will take place on July 14th near the start of the peak tomato season, with the Department of Commerce scheduled to close the 2019 trade agreement with Mexico on red fruit.
“The current contract failed to protect US tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports.” statement It was released by the Commerce Department and the agency said it was “a flood of comments.” The government urged President Trump to withdraw from his contract during his first term.
“This action will allow tomato growers to compete quite heavily in the market,” the department added.
“With this contract termination, the commercial transaction will enact a dump mandatory order on July 14, 2025, bringing a 20.91% mission on most imports of tomatoes from Mexico,” the statement continued.
The US was imported $2.7 billion In 2023, it was worth tomatoes from Mexico and became Mexico’s top tomato export market.
The 2019 Mexico contract included a mechanism to avoid tariffs on goods, establish minimum pricing standards for Mexican tomatoes, inspect low-quality fruits, and enter the US market.
The agreement the Trump administration plans to withdraw will apply to all fresh and chilled tomatoes, filtering out tomatoes for processing.
Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies and a senior fellow at a conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, argued that “surprising” policy would be. Raises US tomato prices.
“It’s amazing how the Trump administration is intentionally trying to make tomatoes even more expensive,” the stock wrote X:
Tomato obligations, following the Trump administration, will take away 25% tariffs on Mexico to close out illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
The tariff excludes imports covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump negotiated during his first term.
