<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%"></span>Maitland, FL<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">05.02.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/hl_tomato_struggle_mexico_may_2013_BODY00.jpg" alt="Images 043013" />Florida’s Tomato Farmers are challenging the Commerce Department’s recent suspension agreement with Mexico. The Florida Tomato Exchange has filed a lawsuit with the US Court of International Trade, questioning whether the antidumping case complies with federal laws designed to ensure fair trade on imported goods.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Federal trade laws provide a remedy for “dumping” – selling imported goods into the U.S. market at a price below the home market price or the full cost of production, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“Farming is one of America’s most important industries, and most enduring ways of life,” said Reggie Brown, Executive Vice President of the Florida Tomato Exchange. “Tomato farmers in Florida and across America can compete favorably in a market that is both free and fair.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The case challenges the failure of the Commerce Department to determine the current cost of tomato production in Mexico to ensure that Mexican tomatoes are not being dumped into the American market at a cost below that of production.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“Since day one, we have simply been seeking to have any suspension agreement negotiated by the Commerce Department with the Mexican exporters comply with the very specific provisions of U.S. law. We don’t believe that the recently concluded suspension agreement does,” said Brown. “Our only recourse is to place the question of whether the agreement meets the requirements of the law before the U.S. Court of International Trade.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for further updates on the challenge.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.floridatomatoes.org " target="_new"> Florida Tomato Exchange </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
