Texas lawmakers urge Trump to extend tomato trade agreement with Mexico

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McALLEN — Texas lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to delay the end of a tomato trade agreement with Mexico, warning that not doing so could prompt the cost of tomatoes to jump and cause Texas to lose thousands of jobs.

The Tomato Suspension Agreement is a 1996 trade agreement requiring producers and exporters to sell Mexican produce at or above a specific price to protect American growers. It is set to end Monday, and when it does, U.S. companies will be required to pay a 17% tariff on each shipment of tomatoes they purchase from Mexico.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from McAllen, and state Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Republican from Rio Grande City, sounded the alarms during a Friday news conference held at one of the dozens of produce warehouses in South McAllen.

About 70% of all tomatoes in the U.S. come from Mexico, and the tariff could lead consumers to pay as much as 50% more for them, according to a study by Arizona State University.

"It is not just Texas and Arizona, it is American families that eat more than 20 pounds of fresh tomatoes every year," said Dante Galeazzi, CEO and president of Texas International Produce Association. "Undoing this agreement will undo three decades of stability."

Tomato imports from Mexico also play a large role in international trade along the border.

In 2024, more than 2.1 billion pounds of tomatoes were imported through Texas ports of entry in cities like Pharr, Laredo and Roma. Suspending the agreement could lead to an estimated loss of 32,000 jobs involved in the importing and marketing of tomatoes, according to a Senate Research Center analysis of a Texas House resolution passed by state lawmakers calling on the U.S. Department of Commerce to extend the tomato agreement.

Produce warehouses are also expected to see severe reductions in sales, because of the higher price tag for consumers, and in profits, because of the tariff costs companies will have to pay. This could lead to an estimated economic loss of more than $4.5 billion in the state, the analysis found.

During the Texas legislative session this year, Guillen was among the lawmakers who introduced the resolution, which was approved by both chambers and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June.

The Commerce Department announced in April it would withdraw from the trade agreement, which was met with cheers by lawmakers and tomato growers in Florida.

A Florida congressional delegation penned a letter last month accusing Mexico of flooding the market with tomatoes priced below fair market value, a practice known as dumping.

"The termination of the suspension agreement will allow U.S. tomato growers to compete fairly in the marketplace," the lawmakers wrote.

But Gonzalez and Guillen are hoping for a 90-day reprieve, hoping the Commerce Department will look closer at the impacts the end of the trade agreement could have on consumers.

“Let's not turn this into another crisis for the American people,” Gonzalez said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

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