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NPC PERSPECTIVE. One day before the one-year anniversary of Congress’ vote that lead to a retaliatory tariff on U.S. exports into Mexico, NPC CEO John Keeling discusses why something needs to be done soon or the potato industry (and many others) will suffer. O Mexico: What A Year Can Do And what another one could mean by Tyler J. Baum, Editor 14 Potato Grower | MAY 2010 ver a year later, the retaliatory tariffs Mexico inflicted upon U.S. exports are still in place. Much damage has been done, but much more could be done if Congress doesn’t act soon, according to industry experts with the Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs. March 10 marked the one-year anniversary of the vote in the U.S. Congress that brought the U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking pilot project “to an abrupt halt,” according to John Murphy, VP of International Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexican trucks were free to enter the U.S. and vice versa, without the 20 percent tariff inflicted on other countries’ exports. Then on March 10, 2009, Congress voted to bar Mexican trucks. In response, Mexico began requiring the 20 percent tariff on all U.S. exports pre-NAFTA—including potatoes—making Canadian goods cheaper, setting the stage to cripple the United States’ market share.