Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum on Tuesday criticized US President Donald
Trump's move to impose tariffs on Mexican tomatoes, which
account for 2/3 of the tomatoes eaten in the US
. First, we disagree. Second, Mexican tomatoes
will continue to be. Exported regardless. Third,
I hope that next week we will be able to
announce a series of actions that we will be taking
with all the associations and all the tomato producers.
On Monday, the Trump administration announced a duty of
about 17% on fresh tomatoes from Mexico. US Commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnick said American farmers have been crushed by
unfair trade practices that undercut pricing on tomatoes, but
Mexico's Ministries of Economy and Agriculture called the tariff on
tomatoes unfair and said it would hurt American consumers.
The tomato tariff comes after Trump on Saturday threatened to
impose a 30% tariff on imports. From Mexico starting
on August 1, on Tuesday, Scheinbaum said Mexico
will take action if an agreement with the US is
not reached by that deadline. Remember that we have
a meeting scheduled for August 1, and we hope
to reach an agreement, including on the issue of
tomatoes. If an agreement is not reached on August
1, we will be informing of other actions.
Mexico's government said it would help local tomato producers seek
a deal to suspend the tomato duty as well as
support them in seeking new international markets.