In less than a month, the USMCA will go into effect. According to Politico, leaders in North America are selling USMCA as a big win that will remove uncertainty in the region.
Before that happens, there are still some ag issues between the U.S. and Mexico that need to be worked out.
Kenneth Smith Ramos, Mexico’s former chief USMCA negotiator, says growers in the Southern U.S. and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are still talking through seasonal produce concerns.
Seasonal produce growers mainly located in Florida and Georgia have pushed for special provisions in USMCA that would allow them to more easily petition for anti-dumping or countervailing duties on Mexico, but that was left out of the final agreement.
They’re still pushing for rules that would allow them to fight Mexican growers. In the meantime, Mexican officials are still concerned about talk of the U.S. doing more border inspections.
Mexico agreed to increased border inspections as part of a tomato suspension agreement, but now there’s a push to extend that to other agricultural goods entering the United States.
