King leads call to support US potato growers hurt by Mexico trade dispute

File Photo Lawmakers led by U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and James Risch, R-Idaho, are calling on the Biden administration to resolve a trade dispute blocking fresh potato exports to Mexico.

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By Renee Cordes

Federal lawmakers led by U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and James Risch, R-Idaho, are calling on the Biden administration to resolve a trade dispute blocking potato exports to Mexico.

In a March 14 letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the senators and 28 other members of Congress urge the USDA to press its counterpart in Mexico to honor and expedite a trade deal that would resume U.S. fresh potato exports. Those exports would mean $150 million in annual revenue for farmers in Maine and other states.

The bipartisan group signing the letter also included U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine.

The letter comes after the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service agreed to new demands by the Mexican government that will significantly delay and limit exports to Mexico. However, the U.S. demand is supported by a Mexican Supreme Court ruling and successful site visits made by Mexican authorities to American potato facilities in Colorado.

“We write today out of deep concern for the ongoing dispute regarding U.S. fresh potato access to Mexico. It appears that Mexico is continuing to delay restoring this access that was blocked due to legal proceedings initiated by the Mexican potato industry over seven years ago. The cost of this inaction is estimated to be $150 million to U.S. growers on an annual basis,” the lawmakers write.

“We request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continue to work with their counterparts in Mexico to ensure that the trade deal is honored by expeditiously reinstating access for U.S. fresh potatoes and to express that any Mexican request for enhanced agricultural access to the U.S. should not be granted until this access is restored.”

The lawmakers also argue that the United States continues to honor its side of the trade deal, saying "it is imperative that the USDA ensure that Mexico do the same."

Donald Flannery, executive director of the Presque Isle-based Maine Potato Board, welcomed efforts by King and other U.S. lawmakers to protect producers in the trade dispute with Mexico.

"Their support for the potato industry is appreciated by not only Maine growers but potato growers across the United States," Flannery said in a statement emailed to Mainebiz. "Efforts to open the market in Mexico have been ongoing for 20 years, and it is time for Mexico to follow through with their comments and allow U.S. potatoes into the country."