Mexico has condemned the U.S. Commerce Department for calling for an antidumping tariff on Mexican strawberries, a move Mexico says would violate international standards and threaten to end decades of largely duty-free strawberry trade between the two countries.

Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard voiced a “grave concern” over a preliminary determination by the U.S. that Mexican strawberry exports were being dumped during the winter season, which, if true, would constitute an unfair trade practice that consists of exporting goods at prices below their production cost or lower than the sales price in the domestic market.

Mexico’s Economy Ministry (SE) issued a statement Tuesday night informing the public that the U.S. accused Mexico of selling strawberries at prices between 3.37% and 5.28% below the normal product value.

To win the case, the U.S. must prove that Mexican strawberry sales are being made below fair value and the International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent quasi-judicial U.S. entity, must agree that the imports could cause material injury to the U.S. industry. 

However, Mexico’s SE says that the “arbitrarily applied” U.S. criteria are inconsistent with the ITC Antidumping Agreement and with provisions in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The case originated on Dec. 31, 2025, when Florida producers requested that the Commerce Department and the ITC impose antidumping duties, based on a differentiation between “strawberries” and “winter strawberries” harvested between Nov. 1 and March 31 and on the existence of a regional market limited to the eastern U.S. states. 

The ITC concluded in March that there was no basis for considering winter strawberries as a distinct product from strawberries in general, nor for recognizing a regional market separate from the U.S. national market, according to Mexico’s Economy Ministry. But that conclusion was preliminary and did not halt the proceedings. The final ruling by the ITC is expected in early 2027, either allowing the U.S. to impose antidumping tariffs on Mexico or dismissing the case. 

The imposition of tariffs would affect almost 5,000 Mexican strawberry producers — 97% of whom are small or medium-sized, with no more than 10 hectares — and around 151,000 jobs. In 2025, Mexico exported 263,000 metric tons of strawberries to the United States, valued at $1 billion. 

On the other hand, from a U.S. industry perspective, Mexican producers are selling winter-harvested strawberries in the United States at prices U.S. producers cannot compete with. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has warned that the U.S. Commerce Department’s determination could set a precedent for other U.S. producers to challenge other Mexican fruit and vegetable exports by dividing products into seasons or delimiting regional markets. 

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 98% of U.S. strawberry imports came from Mexico last year. Mexico accounts for 5.9% of global strawberry production, making it the world’s fifth-largest producer.

With reports from El Economista, Expansión, Infobae, CNN and Hortidaily