A U.S. judge has ruled against Mexican tomato growers who were looking for relief from new duties.
This week, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves of the U.S. Court of International Trade declined to halt both the collection of nearly 18% duties on imported Mexican tomatoes and a recently restarted dumping investigation.
The growers “have not met their burden to establish a likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm absent injunctive relief,” her Thursday ruling reads.
“It’s very unfortunate that the injunction was not granted,” said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Nogales-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. The duties were imposed after the U.S. Department of Commerce withdrew from the 2013 Tomato Suspension Agreement on May 7.
If a new deal is negotiated, those duties would be eliminated, he said. If not, tomato prices could increase significantly next season.
