While larger-scale trade battles dominated national headlines, different fresh produce commodities had their own trade fights to pick. The Packer covered these in detail in 2025, and it is almost certain that the ongoing issues will hit headlines in 2026 as well.
For example, The Tomato Suspension Agreement was one of the biggest examples of a commodity-specific trade fight to grace the headlines. In late November, a source told The Packer’s Christina Herrick that U.S. tomato growers might not see the impact of the termination of the Tomato Suspension Agreement until the January 2026 crop and beyond into spring.
Coverage of the tumultuous trade fight in 2025 started in summer when Herrick sat down with Robert Guenther, executive vice president for the Florida Tomato Exchange, as the agreement neared the end of its 90-day implementation period.
“For decades, Mexican exporters have dumped tomatoes into the U.S. market below their cost of production, by margins as high as 273%, which are injuring American tomato farmers,” Guenther said.
“The 2019 Suspension Agreement and the previous four suspension agreements were supposed to stop this,” he continued. “Instead, it became a shield for repeated violations. It failed in its basic purposes: to shield U.S. tomato producers from dumped Mexican tomatoes and to ensure fair trade as required by U.S. law.”
Later, in mid-July, when the U.S. Department of Commerce ended the Tomato Suspension Agreement and imposed a 17% tariff on most imports of Mexican tomatoes, the reaction from the fresh produce industry was pronounced and deeply divided. Herrick and The Packer’s Jennifer Strailey covered the controversy’s sides.
On the one hand, Florida claimed victory. The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association and the Florida Tomato Exchange called the end of the agreement a victory for U.S. tomato growers and a positive movement “toward fairer competition, not only for tomato growers but for all specialty crop producers nationwide.”
On the other hand, the controlled-environment agriculture industry was “deeply disappointed,” by the move.
“Because most high-value greenhouse growers farm in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the termination of this agreement will cause significant damage to these growers, serving as a financial barrier to new investment in U.S. greenhouses,” the CEA Alliance said.
But the situation with tomato prices, tomato trade, and prices is a nuanced one. Because they are such a staple to U.S. consumers, and supplies are dependent on Mexican-grown tomatoes, the situation begged the question: Are tomatoes poised for an eggs moment?
Other commodities faced trade threats and dumping issues
Tomatoes weren’t the only commodity to see trade war battles in 2025 that will likely continue in 2026.
For example, in mid-September, Herrick covered the growing fight over mushrooms. A group of U.S. mushroom growers accused Canadian growers of dumping mushrooms in the U.S. market below the price of production.
“These practices have resulted in significant negative impacts on U.S. mushroom growers and packers, including lost sales, depressed prices and declining profitability,” they said.
Herrick reported the trade situation between the two countries is more than a symbiotic relationship, however. Canada supplies almost all of the peat moss substrate for U.S. growers, and the U.S. supplies most of Canadian growers’ mushroom spawn, for instance.
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the case will extend into 2026 due in part to the government shutdown’s impact on its operation late in the year.
California’s citrus industry also found itself at the center of a pitched trade battle in 2025 as well. As Strailey reported in early October, the Golden State’s citrus growers found themselves pressured by imports exceeding exports, pest and disease threats, and tariff pains from China.
Long a desired destination for California citrus exports, China answered President Donald Trump’s first term tariff threats seriously.
“China took retaliatory measures and increased tariffs substantially,” said California Citrus Quality Council President Jim Cranney. “And since then, we’ve been operating with tariffs that are in a neighborhood of about 46%.”
The tariff fight with China looks like it will be an on-going issue in 2026. As will the question of Argentinian dumping of lemons and limes with the shifts in reciprocal tariffs on the country, among others.
