(NAFB.com) – Mexican Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegue said on Tuesday he reached agreements with U.S. counterpart Brooke Rollins in a “friendly” meeting in Washington and met with tomato industry executives. He later posted again on X saying he met with more than two dozen representatives and companies involved in distributing Mexican tomatoes in the U.S. Washington has said it intends to withdraw from a bilateral agreement on Mexican tomato exports, citing its failure to protect domestic growers. Reuters reports a U.S. pullout would result in duties of nearly 20.91% on most Mexican tomato exports as of July 14. “They highlighted the adverse effects of the measure adopted by the U.S. government, which will make tomatoes more expensive for consumers,” Berdegue said about his meeting with executives. Mexico’s government said in April it hoped to begin talks to renew the agreement and has been working to smooth out other recent tensions including the handling of the New World screwworm after the U.S. threatened to limit cattle imports from Mexico.
