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Avocado related trade war

      After the NAFTA treaty was signed, Mexico tried exporting avocados to the USA. The U.S. government resisted, claiming that the trade would introduce fruit flies that would destroy California crops. The Mexican government responded by inviting U.S. department of agriculture inspectors to Mexico, but U.S. government declined, claiming fruit fly inspection is not feasible. The Mexican government then proposed to sell avocados only to the northeastern U.S. in the winter (fruit flies cannot withstand extreme cold). The U.S. government balked, but only gave in when the Mexican government started throwing up barriers to American maize.

      Today Avocados from Mexico are allowed in 47 states (not in FL, CA, Hawaii). This is because USDA inspectors in Uruapan, Michoacan (the state where 90% of Hass avocados from Mexico are grown) have cut open and inspected millions of them--but found nothing. Imports from Mexico last season (2004-2005) exceeded 100 million tonnes.

      Avocados are much more expensive in the USA than other countries due to the fact that they are grown almost exclusively in California and Florida, and the main potential competitor (Mexico) is banned from 3 states in the market--Florida, California and Hawaii. Mexican farmers have argued against the ban, pointing out that not a single shipment has been found to contain pests since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began inspections in 1997 [1]. Another argument is that the lower prices generated by the Mexican and Chilean imports would increase the popularity of avocados outside of California, thereby assuaging the loss of profits due to the new competition. In the year 2007, Mexican avocados will be permitted in all 50 U.S. States.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Avocado".