The US Department of Commerce has signed a new draft suspicion agreement with Mexican tomato growers to suspend the ongoing antidumping investigation on fresh tomatoes from the South American County.

This will ensure that the domestic tomato industry will be protected from unfair trade, the Department said.

“For many years, there have been disputes over the roughly $2 billion worth of tomatoes that are imported from Mexico annually,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

“These disputes led the Department to terminate an earlier suspension agreement and continue an investigation that could have led to duties of 25% for most Mexican tomato producers.

“After intensive discussions with all parties, we initialled a new draft suspension agreement with the Mexican growers late last night. This draft agreement meets the needs of both sides and avoids the need for antidumping duties.”

The draft suspension agreement has enforcement provisions that eliminate the injurious effects of Mexican tomatoes, as well as price suppression and undercutting.

It also closes loopholes from past suspension agreements that permitted sales below the reference prices and includes a brand-new inspection mechanism to prevent the importation of low-quality, poor-condition tomatoes from Mexico, which can have price suppressive effects in the market.

In addition, the draft agreement allows the Department to audit up to 80 Mexican tomato producers per quarter, or more with good cause.