Carlos Curbelo continues to have a strong presence in his congressional reelection bid as a New York Times poll shows him with a 47% lead over his opponent, Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s 44% in a Democratic-leaning district.
In addition, Representative Curbelo is joining forces with Democrat Al Lawson to introduce the “Agricultural Trade Improvement Act,” which aims to adjust the Tariff Act of 1930 that ensures “American specialty crop growers to request the imposition to antidumping or countervailing duties.”
Curbelo’s office detailed that “Under current law, a trade remedy petition requires the support of either 25 percent of the domestic industry that produces a similar product or at least 50 percent of the support of all producers of a domestic like product that expressed a position. This legislation would have the equal authority of a seasonality/perishable provision in NAFTA that Curbelo has been encouraging the Administration to include in the final deal. If the bill becomes law, specialty crop growers would be better prepared to take on Mexico’s unfair and opaque trade practices.”
Furthermore, Curbelo explained why the proposal was important, saying that “Free trade and amicable partnerships with our neighbors have been a cornerstone of the American economy for decades. While recent renegotiations of NAFTA have not produced positive results for specialty crop growers in South Florida, we must do everything possible to provide them with the tools and protections they need to compete in a fair way. This legislation allows our South Florida growers to sell their specialty crops at fair and competitive prices in our domestic market, and protects them from unfair trade practices.”
