The duty came into force after the US withdrew from a long-standing agreement with its southern neighbour, arguing that the deal “had failed to protect US tomato growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports”.

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that “for far too long our farmers have been crushed by unfair trade practices that undercut pricing on produce like tomatoes”.

US tomato growers first petitioned the US government for help in 1996, arguing that they were being undercut by Mexican growers, whom they accused of dumping their tomatoes in the US at a price lower than their normal value.

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