Section 201 Investigation Petitioned on Mexican Blueberry Imports
October 21, 2020 Blueberries are, without a doubt, one of the more recent crop sectors negatively impacted by imports from Mexico. Growers in Florida and Georgia have suffered steadily declining prices in recent years as volume from Mexico has soared. At the beginning of the year, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer issued a call for hearings and testimony from Southeastern growers of seasonal, perishable produce who have seen market declines due to Mexican imports.
With all the testimony considered, the Trump administration announced it would initiate investigations into the trade disruptions. In late September, the USTR announced it had issued a request to the International Trade Commission (ITC) to initiate a Section 201 global safeguard investigation into the extent to which increased imports of blueberries have caused serious injury or threat thereof to domestic blueberry growers.
This is one of a number of actions announced in the “Report on Seasonal and Perishable Products in U.S. Commerce” jointly released by USTR, the USDA, and the Department of Commerce earlier in September.
“President Trump recognizes the challenges faced by farmers across the country, and today’s action is just one of a number of steps the administration is taking to support American producers of seasonal and perishable agricultural products,” noted Lighthizer.
What is a Section 201? I confess, I didn’t know until this trade action came about. It was enacted as part of the Trade Act of 1974. It allows industries (like blueberries) that have been seriously injured or threatened with serious injury to petition the ITC for import relief.
I think if you ask any Florida or Georgia blueberry grower, they will tell you there is plenty of evidence of injury on their farms from Mexican imports. And there are economic data to back that up.
If the ITC finds there has been injury done, it will recommend to the U.S. president that actions be taken to prevent or remedy the damage caused to the Southeastern blueberry sector. The president then makes the final call on whether or not to provide trade protection and how much. Relief may come in the form of a tariff increase, quantitative restrictions, or orderly marketing agreements.
Section 201 does not require the finding of an “unfair trade” practice like in antidumping and countervailing duty laws. But it does require that Mexican imports be proven to be the “substantial cause” of the injury suffered by Southern blueberry growers. Some say that’s a higher hurdle than proving an unfair trade practice.
How long does the process take? The statute says the ITC must generally make a finding within 120 days of receiving the petition (150 days for more complicated cases). The petition was made on Sept. 29, so we would be looking somewhere around the first of the year for a ruling. Its recommendations to the president generally must be made within 180 days of the request, so tack on another month and a half. That would be bumping up close to Florida’s blueberry market window.
I think we can agree there’s ample evidence supporting some form of protection for our domestic blueberry growers in the Southeast U.S. Hopefully, Section 201 bears that out and the president takes corrective action.
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