Mar 4, 2011

Potato farmers support U.S.-Mexico trucking agreement

The National Potato Council (NPC) strongly supports the agreement between President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to end the trade dispute that has plagued the potato industry for nearly two years. Since March 2009, US potato growers have seen revenues from frozen potato exports to Mexico decline by more than $68 million, or nearly 50 percent.

“This agreement in principle represents an enormous step forward to restoring the strength and vitality of the U.S. potato industry,” said NPC President Justin Dagen of Karlstad, Minnesota. “The potato farmers of the US applaud the diligence and persistence of President Obama to make this agreement possible and stand behind him to ensure a full and open implementation of the plan.”

Mexico is the third-largest market for U.S. potatoes. In 2008, the most recent year unaffected by the dispute, U.S. potato growers exported more than $83 million in frozen potatoes to Mexico. In response to Congressional action to prohibit funding for a cross-border trucking pilot program, Mexico levied $2.4 billion in retaliatory tariffs in accordance with an arbitration panel’s decision in 2001. U.S. frozen potatoes were initially subject to a 20 percent tariff level on March 23, 2009. The tariff was reduced on August 17, 2010, when the tariff list was rotated to include other agricultural and manufactured goods.