The U.S. Department of Commerce has published a preliminary notice to terminate a tomato trade agreement with Mexico that has been in place for the last 16 years, supporting jobs on both sides of the border and the quality of fruit available to local consumers.

The suspension agreement in place prevents anti-dumping investigations, and without its existence the current trade arrangement would be scrapped with potential for new restrictive measures to be implemented.

The current agreement will stay for a period of no more than 270 days until a final decision is made.

The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (FPAA) has labeled the notice as hasty, unwarranted and possibly motivated by the political interests of the Obama administration.

The government is currently battling for support in swing state Florida, where the complaints against Mexico's tomato industry are largely driven. Meanwhile, the new Mexican government has vowed it will defend growers with a "strong position".

"Commerce today delivered a slap in the face to the goodwill showed by the Mexican growers, who were scheduled only tomorrow to have a meeting with Commerce to renegotiate terms of the agreement," said FPAA president Lance Jungmeyer.

"The Mexican grower groups had tried in vain for four months to schedule a face-to-face opportunity to renegotiate this agreement.

"The fact that Commerce chose to terminate the agreement the day before this meeting only underscores the political pressure that Commerce was facing from the industry in Florida, a key swing state in the upcoming election."

In a release, the FPAA expressed dismay at the lack of attention the Department of Commerce gave to nearly 350 letters from U.S. interests expressing support for continuation of the agreement.

"Historically, Commerce has never made a decision this quickly when it was contested.

"In this case, the decision to terminate the agreement was fiercely contested by numerous U.S. interests who said doing so would be bad for their business.

"Either the Administration does not care about these businesses, or it is motivated by political concerns."

Groups supporting continuation of agreement were as diverse as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Food Marketing Institute, National Restaurant Association, National Pork Producers Council, American Dairy Federation, American Meat Institute and many more.

"Even Walmart, the biggest retailer in the world, supported keeping the tomato suspension agreement," added Jungmayer.

"Their promise is everyday low prices for their shoppers, and they clearly see that terminating the agreement could raise tomato prices for consumers, at the same time as reducing selection and variety in one of the top categories in the whole produce department."

In the release, Apache Produce director and FPAA chairman Alejandro Canelos emphasized tens of thousands of jobs in Arizona, Texas and California relied on the tomato import industry.

"These companies are third- and fourth-generation family operations that are the cornerstones of the local employment base.

"The Mexican grower groups had tried in vain for four months to schedule a face-to-face opportunity to renegotiate this agreement.

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