A new tariff on Mexican fresh tomatoes started Tuesday May 7th, making the prices to skyrocket. The United States imposed a 17.5 percent tariff on Mexican tomato imports and economists say that could lead to shortages and price increases of up to 85 percent in stores across the US, as soon as this winter.
“The 17.5 percent tariff that the United States imposed on Mexican tomatoes is unfair, because it is a political-electoral measure, and not an intelligent policy to temper the immigration situation,” said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to this regard, during his “Mañanera“.
“There are legislators from the United States who have their interests, so they take these political-electoral measures. The circumstances are totally unfair and we are defending the producers, always convinced that we must maintain a good relationship between the two countries, ” AMLO said at his morning press conference at the Control, Command, Communications, Computing, Coordination and Intelligence Center in Mexico City.
Lopez Obrador stressed that the imposition of the tariff is linked to the elections in the United States, and added that legislators from that country, “who are looking after their own political interests,” put the pressure on the tomato producing regions of the world.
The Yucatant Times Newsroom with information from USA TODAY
