Tomatoes, new victims of Donald Trump’s price policy. The United States announced on Monday the establishment of customs tariffs of 17% in imported tomatoes from Mexico, after the cancellation of a free trade agreement between the two countries for this product.
Washington had announced in mid -April his desire to end the agreement, signed in 2019 during Donald Trump’s first term, the announcement that led to a period of 90 days before the effective departure of the agreement, times that ended on Monday.
Initially, the United States government had threatened Mexican tomatoes with a 21% surcharge, before finally deciding to apply 17% of the customs tax on fruit.
“Unjust commercial practices”
Mexico City immediately denounced an “unfair” surcharge that goes “against the interests of Mexican producers, but also from the American industry,” according to a statement from the Mexican Ministries of Agriculture and the economy published on Monday.
The American Ministry of Commerce accuses Mexican producers of anti -comppetitive practices and guarantees that customs tasks have been calculated to compensate for these practices.
Before the announcement of these new customs rights, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, had assured “working to reduce the effects” of this surcharge.
In total, 90% of imported tomatoes to the United States come from Mexico, the Minister of Agriculture Julio Berdegué recalled in April by anticipating the specific risks of prices on the other side of the Bravo/Río Grande River.
New chapter of the commercial war
The first commercial partner in the United States, Mexico, has been in charge of the commercial wars launched by Donald Trump since his return to the White House in January.
The United States has finally exempted Mexico and Canada from customs duties “reciprocal” imposed on other global economies. The three countries are united by a free trade agreement.
The White House has also fallen back into the surcharge imposed on the fight against Fentanilo traffic, a powerful opioid that causes a serious health crisis in the United States, exempting Mexican and Canadian products imported to the country as part of the Free Trade Agreement (ACCIO) of Canada-Mexico Canada-State, which covers most of the exchanges.
Despite the treaty, Mexico and Canada are affected by customs duties of steel, aluminum and automobile also decreed by the US president.
Source: BFM TV
