As the Trump administration continues to renegotiate the North American Trade Agreement, Florida congressional delegation members are calling for stronger protection for Florida’s agricultural community.
Representative Carlos Curbelo’s office noted that “According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, Florida is currently the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the country, and produces some of the highest quality produce in the world. Since 2000, Florida has lost between $1 billion and $3 billion a year due to increased Mexican imports.”
In addition, Curbelo joined a number of members from the congressional delegation in a letter sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, arguing that “With reports that the Administration is seeking to conclude negotiations with Mexico as part of an updated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by the end of this month, we are urging you to continue to advocate for inclusion of provisions to protect Florida’s specialty crop industry. NAFTA has been a great success for many industries in Florida, but it is important to address the challenges it has presented for the specialty crop industry. As you know, an unprecedented growth in imports from Mexico as a result of its unfair subsidies and illegal seasonal dumping is having a devastating impact on farmers in our home state and throughout the Southeast. Because we share a similar growing season and produce many of the same specialty crops as Mexico, Florida producers have been particularly hard hit. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Florida has experienced a loss of between $1 billion and $3 billion dollars a year since 2000. As the Administration has widely recognized, the seasonal and perishable sectors in the Southeast have suffered disproportionally under the original NAFTA.”
The letter also asserted that “It is absolutely critical that any final agreement must allow our fruit and vegetable growers to address the challenges they face from unfairly traded imports. We support the U.S. proposal to use seasonal data to seek regional relief in anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases because we need to provide this sector with the necessary tools to make the case that that Mexico is selling produce at unfairly low prices when certain crops are in season in a particular region.”
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