Avocado prices have reached a record high and a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could have U.S. consumers paying even more for the fruit. A group of avocado companies recently wrote the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office predicting prices could rise, depending on whether the Trump administration, in renegotiating NAFTA, changes rules on anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The letter states: “Once seasonal tariffs are put in place for tomatoes, for example, Mexico or Canada may initiate trade cases of their own on any of a wide range of U.S. agricultural products, beginning a tit-for-tat cycle that could broadly limit agricultural trade.” In the winter, when California isn’t growing avocados, Mexico supplies 75 percent to 80 percent of all the avocados Americans eat. The rest come from Peru, Chile, the Dominican Republic and California. And Americans eat a lot of avocados, more than seven pounds of them, per capita last year, according to Bloomberg.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.