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On Wednesday, October 12, National Potato Council (NPC) CEO Kam Quarles met with the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture Victor Villalobos and the Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C.
The meeting was created to discuss food inflation measures that have been proposed by the Mexican government to ease the burden on Mexican consumers. “My message to the Secretary and Ambassador was fairly simple: Keep the market for U.S. potatoes and potato products open and efficiently growing,” said Quarles.
Earlier this year, Mexico allowed the first shipments of U.S. fresh potatoes to access the entire country following a 2021 ruling by the Mexican Supreme Court that sought to resolve a 25-year-old trade dispute. For years, this dispute impacted both U.S. fresh potato exports to Mexico and Mexican avocado access to the United States.
“There certainly are non-phytosanitary measures that can be streamlined to provide more supply to Mexican consumers. However, any changes must be agreed upon by both the U.S. and Mexican agricultural authorities. We do not want to provide a reason for our opponents to return to court in Mexico and inflame the dispute again. Delay-inducing legal actions will immediately impact both U.S. potato growers, as well as Mexican avocado growers should the U.S. need to retaliate against their exports due to another market shutdown,” said Quarles.
The proposed inflation measures announced by the Obrador Administration have caused concern in several sectors. Over the past week, they have also triggered the resignations of the top two officials in Mexico’s Trade Department, Economia.
