Florida’s fruit and vegetable growers are turning to Donald Trump for backup, urging the former president to use the upcoming USMCA joint review to clamp down on what they call a tidal wave of Mexican imports that is washing out the state’s produce industry.
State figures cited by advocates show Florida’s share of the U.S. produce market has fallen by roughly half over the past two decades while Mexico’s share has climbed by more than 200%, with bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers among the hardest hit.
The appeal, led by Rep. Vern Buchanan and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody and signed by 14 members of Congress, asks the administration to push for seasonal, product-specific tariff-rate quotas during the upcoming USMCA Joint Review, as reported by Tampa Free Press. “Florida’s farmers are being squeezed out of their own market by a flood of low-priced imports from Mexico,” Buchanan said in the letter.
The numbers come from an October 2025 state analysis cited in industry filings. In comments filed with USTR, the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) reports that Florida’s share of the U.S. domestic market declined by nearly 48% between 2004 and 2024 while Mexico’s rose more than 200%. The filing estimates annual economic losses between $570 million and $1.14 billion and job losses in the range of roughly 7,000 to 14,000. It also details crop-level market-share drops for the same period: bell peppers (down 73.4%), tomatoes (down 54.4%) and cucumbers (down 74.3%), according to the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
Industry leaders are lining up behind the push. Mike Joyner, president of the FFVA, has publicly backed seasonal, product-specific tariff-rate quotas and warned that without targeted limits, imports could continue to surge during Florida’s peak harvest months and further depress prices and local production, a concern detailed in Vegetable Growers News.
What lawmakers are proposing
Supporters say the quotas would work like a pressure valve: imports would still come in, but sharp surges during Florida’s fall-to-spring marketing window could be capped before they undercut local crops.
In its comments to USTR, the FFVA suggests the Administration could consider using Section 232 authority or other tools to impose seasonal, product-specific tariff-rate quotas that prevent displacement of U.S. production, language laid out in the association’s formal submission to the docket.
Timeline and legal hurdles
The effort is keyed to the USMCA joint review calendar. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened a public comment period in September 2025, and the Free Trade Commission’s six-year Joint Review is scheduled for July 1, 2026. Parties must submit recommendations at least a month in advance, according to the Federal Register. That gives Washington and industry players a relatively tight window to hammer out technical proposals and build support for them, with any new import limits likely to face legal and diplomatic scrutiny under USMCA rules and existing trade law.
Trade lawyers and some policy analysts caution that singling out imports from one trade partner or imposing seasonal caps could provoke formal complaints from suppliers and trigger litigation risk. Proponents counter that carefully tailored tariff-rate quotas can preserve cross-border trade while protecting domestic seasonal producers. The fight brings back long-running grievances about how Mexico’s expanding greenhouse and export infrastructure has altered U.S. seasonal market dynamics, as tracked by Growing Produce.
For Florida growers, the next several months could be pivotal. The USTR docket and the July 2026 Joint Review represent the clearest path for the Administration to consider the targeted quotas that lawmakers and the FFVA are demanding. If Washington acts, advocates say the caps could buy farmers some breathing room during peak seasons. If not, they warn that shrinking market share and economic pain for rural communities are likely to continue.
