ITC Will Take Until February on Blueberry Injury Investigation
The conclusion of whether imported blueberries are damaging domestic producers won't come until February, and it's not clear whether a Biden administration would impose tariff rate quotas or tariffs on blueberries from Mexico or Canada if the International Trade Commission recommends that an intervention is warranted.
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Normally, the commission would have to make an injury decision by Jan. 27, but it has decided that it needs 15 more days, because it deems the investigation “extraordinarily complicated,” in part because it has to collect information from numerous firms that grow, process or market blueberries. Blueberry growers and wholesalers have until Oct. 30 to let the ITC know they want to be a party to the investigation on whether imported blueberries are injuring domestic producers. The information on how to submit a request will be published in the Federal Register Oct. 9.
Even if the president decides some action is warranted against imported blueberries, because they are cutting into the profits of Florida or Georgia growers, in the case of Mexico, or Michigan or Washington state growers, in the case of Canada, the U.S. could try to get its neighbors to adhere to an “orderly marketing agreement,” which is something that specialty crop growers adhere to within the United States. According to the Agriculture Department, marketing orders and marketing agreements include regulations to control “the amount of product placed in commercial channels during periods of exceedingly high or low volume to stabilize markets for industry and consumers.”
Although the ITC notes that quotas, tariffs and orderly marketing agreements are all safeguard options, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative acknowledges that orderly marketing agreements and voluntary export restrictions are not legal under the World Trade Organization rules on safeguards.
Farmers who testified about what they see as unfair competition from Mexico seemed focused on marketing order agreements more than tariff rate quotas or tariffs, as some Mexican produce enters U.S. supermarkets before any Florida or Georgia blueberries are ready for harvest (see 2008200039). Southeastern farmers have wanted a way to control Mexican imports for years, and were disappointed that a “seasonality” plank was not included in the rewrite of NAFTA. Some say this request for an injury investigation from USTR is a way of managing important political constituencies in swing states during the election season.
However, there is also political sensitivity in restraining Mexican agriculture imports, as Mexican growers feel their increased sales into the U.S. are a result of productivity improvements, not unfair competition, and they will push their government to retaliate with tariffs on U.S. agriculture exports if a tariff rate quota or tariff comes to pass (see 2009110019).
The injury hearing will be Jan. 12, 2021, and if the commission either deadlocks on the question or votes that there was an injury caused by imports, a hearing on what remedy, if any, would be appropriate will be held on Feb. 25.