Mexico City, Oct 20 (IANS/EFE): Mexico's government and farmers have offered to accept higher prices for tomatoes exported to the US in a bid to avert the scrapping of a 16-year-old agreement, a senior Mexican official said.
Deputy Foreign Trade Secretary Francisco de Rosenzweig said the offer was extended during bilateral meetings to resolve the dispute, which has been dubbed the "tomato war".
The Mexican government began talks with US authorities after Florida growers in June requested the cancellation of the 1996 accord regulating tariff-free exports of Mexican tomatoes to the US.
The existing bilateral pact is known as a "suspension agreement" because the US Commerce Department in 1996 halted an anti-dumping investigation against Mexican growers and agreed to a deal setting a minimum price for imports of Mexican tomatoes.
The accord has been renegotiated on two occasions. The most recent extension, signed in 2008, expires this year.
Rosenzweig said Mexico's offer was discussed in the first two weeks of October with US Commerce Department officials, noting that it calls for the agreement to be extended to all Mexican tomato growers, 15 percent of whom are not covered by the current deal.
He said it also calls for enforcement mechanisms to be strengthened and for the floor price for Mexican tomatoes entering the US to be raised by between 18 percent and 25 percent, depending on the product.
"This offer is unprecedented in the 16 years the agreement has been in force," Rosenzweig said.
He added that Mexican officials are expecting a quick response from their US counterparts so a deal can be struck to renegotiate the accord.
In addition to Mexico, US agricultural and business groups have also expressed opposition to ending the pact, with the Fresh Produce Association of America saying that US producers could request the imposition of anti-dumping duties on Mexican tomatoes if the agreement were to be scrapped, potentially triggering a costly trade war.
The US imported $8.5 billion worth of farm products from Mexico last year, more than from any other nation. Tomatoes accounted for nearly a quarter of the total.