California Growers Repeat Call for New USMCA Measures to Curb Surging Mexican Avocados Amid Escalating Security Threats; Ken Melban Comments

FULLERTON, CA - The California Avocado Commission renewed its call Thursday for a seasonal tariff-rate quota on Mexican avocados after the State Department suspended U.S. government activities in Michoacán because of a threat to American interests and reiterated the state’s Level 4 “Do Not Travel” designation, and after Mexico reported a suspected regulated pest at a packinghouse.

Michoacán is Mexico’s leading avocado-exporting state and the source of most U.S.-bound Mexican avocados.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has described extortion as “particularly rampant” in Michoacán agriculture and said cartels “routinely extort Mexican farmers, packers and others” involved in products including avocados. Security threats have repeatedly interrupted U.S. inspections and reduced orchard oversight.

“The Trump administration is right to protect American personnel and confront the cartels,” said California Avocado Commission President Ken Melban in the recent release. “The Office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are highly skilled, fully informed and well positioned to act. Consistent with the administration’s America First, anti-cartel and Make America Healthy Again agenda, cartels cannot be allowed to exploit the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to undercut American growers and destroy domestic production."

On Aug. 4, 2026, it was reported that a packinghouse inspection in Mexico detected a larva suspected to be a regulated pest, though it could not be collected or identified, which might be the avocado branch borer, Macrocopturus aguacatae, renewing calls from the California Avocado Commission for stronger monitoring and pre-shipment checks of imports from Mexico.

Mexican avocado exports to the United States surged 35% during the first four months of 2026. The commission said the surge is intensifying price pressure during California’s harvest and underscores the need for a TRQ in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement review. A defined volume would enter at the standard tariff from March through September, with additional shipments facing a higher rate. The TRQ would complement restored U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections and help preserve domestic production.

“Our growers have no hope of surviving when the ordinary rules of the market are replaced by the Wild Wild West,” Melban said. “This is the moment for a seasonal tariff rate quota on Mexican avocados and the full reinstatement of rigorous U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections before any Mexican avocados are permitted to enter the U.S. market. Business as usual with Mexico must end.”

Learn more about the California Avocado Commission's calls for a TRQ here: https://californiaavocado.com/trq/.