As part of a public hearing on Dec. 3, Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association President Mike Joyner expressed concerns about the impact of produce imports from Mexico under the current U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). During the hearing, he reported significant losses in sales, market share and jobs within Florida’s produce industry due to unfairly priced imports from Mexico.
Joyner’s testimony was part of a hearing with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as the six-year joint review of USMCA approaches on July 1, 2026.
Joyner’s statement follows previously submitted formal comments advocating for measures to ensure fair competition for Southeastern produce growers. In the hearing, Joyner noted the current terms of USMCA lack the necessary trade remedies for these growers.
“When USMCA was enacted by our country in 2020, it promised to improve trade fairness and economic prosperity for American interests,” Joyner says. “Its impact on our industry has been just the opposite.”
Joyner referenced data from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to highlight market shifts over the past 10 to 20 years. Since 2014, Joyner says Mexican blueberries have increased their U.S. market share by nearly fourfold, while Florida’s share has been reduced by half. The market share for Mexican bell peppers has doubled since 2004, Joyner says, while Florida’s has declined by 73%. Similar trends are evident across tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and additional crops, he notes.
“Since 2020, the Mexican industry has seized substantial additional market share and further depressed prices during Florida’s marketing season, causing that much more devastation to our grower community,” he says.
In Joyner’s remarks, he shared the role of government-subsidized development within Mexico, noting the growth of an export-oriented protected agriculture sector, predominantly supplying the U.S. market during Florida’s peak production periods.
His statements urged the administration to implement product-specific seasonal import limits, or tariff rate quotas, during the USMCA joint review.
“Without these measures, American consumers may soon be forced to rely entirely on foreign-sourced fresh produce during several months of the year,” Joyner says. “Compromising our country’s core nutritional needs in this manner jeopardizes America’s food security and, by extension, our national security.”
