Kraig R Naasz, president and chief executive officer of the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), issued this statement responding to Mexico’s announcement of additional retaliatory import tariffs on select US exports due to the ongoing cross-border trucking dispute:
“The US-Mexico trade conflict, sparked by the closure of the cross-border trucking pilot program over a year ago, remains unresolved and continues to harm American farmers and food producers. The failure of the United States to propose a viable solution to the trade standoff has resulted in Mexico’s release of a new list of tariffs, which will further discourage the sale of US goods to Mexico and will result in more lost revenue for American exporters and even deeper damage to the struggling American economy.
“While Mexico’s new list reduces the tariff on frozen potato products from 20% to 5%, a tariff of any amount places US products at a disadvantage on the competitive Mexican market. In one year’s time, the 20% retaliatory tariff on US frozen potato products cost the US frozen potato industry an estimated $33 million in revenue. In the meantime, Canadian potato exports to Mexico not subject to a tariff have seen a dramatic increase.
“New additions to the list of US products subject to Mexican tariffs include frozen corn and frozen ham products, which increases the scope of food industries adversely affected by the failure to settle this conflict in a timely fashion.
“AFFI urges the White House and Congress to resolve this matter as soon as possible so that normal trade with Mexico may be resumed. Every day the Mexican trade conflict drags on and the tariffs remain in place, the more significant the damage to American farmers and agricultural and manufacturing workers.”
