The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced a preliminary affirmative determination in its antidumping duty investigation of fresh winter strawberries from Mexico. Reuters reports the Commerce Department found Mexico was selling strawberries between 3.37% and 5.28% below the normal value, setting the average dumping margin at 4.83%.
A coalition of Florida strawberry growers and state agricultural officials had filed petitions in late December accusing Mexican competitors of dumping low-priced winter strawberries into the U.S. market and harming local producers. The petition covers fresh and chilled strawberries entering or sold in the U.S. between Nov. 1 and March 31.
The Commerce Department’s preliminary determination follows a February 2026 determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which ruled there was a reasonable indication that Mexican winter strawberry imports had materially injured the domestic industry.
What It Means
Daniel Pickard, international trade and national security practice group leader at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and lead counsel for the growers who filed the petition, says the preliminary dumping margin was set at 5%. Importers of strawberries entering between Nov. 1 and March 31 will be required to post cash deposits equal to that percentage.
“The preliminary determination is the best-case scenario for the Mexican importers because it’s all the data that’s most favorable to them,” he says.
This duty rate will technically take effect once published in the Federal Register, Pickard says, but it will only apply to imports during the winter season.
“The scope of this case covers products that enter the United States during the season from November to March,” he says. “Technically, the legal liability gets triggered in about three days when the Federal Register notice is published. It will realistically be in place when the first winter strawberries come in, and they’ll be the ones subject to cash deposits.”
Rates may change, Pickard says, after the Commerce Department audits the sales records of the two largest Mexican strawberry producers during the verification process and hears arguments from both parties. He says it is common for dumping margins to increase in the final determination.
Following verification, both sides will submit legal briefs and present arguments on how the final dumping rate should be calculated.
“We think the rates are probably going to go up pretty significantly,” he says.
However, final duty liabilities for Mexican strawberry imports during the winter season aren’t fully locked in until years later through administrative reviews, potentially pushing final retroactive math into 2029.
Before then, Pickard notes, domestic growers or importers can request annual retroactive reviews, a process that takes about 18 months to conclude.
“Somebody who is importing today who thinks they’ve got a 5% liability — let’s say that number changes to 25% in the final two and a half years down the road,” he says. “They might find out that it actually changes to 125% [following a retroactive review]. Then, they owe that money retroactively plus interest.”
An Ongoing Effort
Pickard says this is another positive step toward growers seeking relief after 20-plus years.
“For the Florida growers, there have been previous requests of the U.S. government for some type of remedy against losing market share to Mexico,” he says. “We’re now two steps in; we got the preliminary determination from the ITC, and now we’ve got the preliminary determination from the Department of Commerce.”
As for next steps, Pickard says growers will continue advocating for a higher dumping margin while reviewing the Commerce Department’s preliminary calculations for ministerial errors.
“It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen from time to time,” he says.
From there, the case moves to verification, briefing, public hearings and ultimately the final Department of Commerce determination.
Pickard says what makes the case unique is that the petitioners, Strawberry Growers for Fair Trade, alleged harm to both the regional Florida market and the broader nationwide industry.
“These regional cases are very rare, and the Department of Commerce initiated on both a regional industry for a regional perishable fruit product and also on a nationwide basis,” Pickard says.
