The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has laid out the plans the administration plans to take relative to imports of seasonal and perishable produce, including senior-level government-to-government discussions with Mexico over the next 90 days “to address U.S. industry concerns regarding U.S. imports of Mexican strawberries, bell peppers, and other seasonal and perishable products.”
USTR will also request the International Trade Commission (ITC) initiate a Section 201 safeguard investigation on imports of blueberries and will work with domestic producers for ITC to monitor and investigate imports of strawberries and bell peppers, a move that could enable an expedited Section 201 global safeguard investigation later this year.
The Commerce Department will set up a program for outreach to Southeastern growers of seasonable and perishable fruits and vegetables to help them understand trade remedy laws and processes and set up a channel for them to provide information on unfair subsidies to foreign producers and exporters of these products, including those in Mexico.
USDA will boost outreach to producers of seasonal and perishable fruits and vegetables on existing USDA programs, develop a marketing promotion strategy for those crops domestically produced and open conversations with key federal partners to better understand how imports of those products are utilized to enable criminal activity.
The three agencies will set up an interagency working group to monitor the situation and USTR said this does not rule out “additional actions and investigations by the Trump administration” to support these producers. The effort comes after two public hearings USTR held in August on the situation.
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