The potato-shaped loophole in free trade

Summary

Planet Money: The Potato-Shaped Loophole in Free Trade

Episode Release Date: January 3, 2025

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Introduction: Scaling the Potato Mountain

In the heart of Pingree, Idaho, host Jeff Guo and co-host Erica Barras find themselves amidst a colossal pile of potatoes inside Brian Wada's climate-controlled warehouse. Describing the scene, Jeff remarks at [00:36] how the warehouse "was filled with potatoes from end to end, piled 18ft high. 15 million potatoes." Erica adds their awe, exclaiming, "Oh, my goodness," as they navigate the mountainous stack.

The Untapped Market: American Potatoes and Mexico

Brian Wada, a third-generation potato farmer and Idaho potato commissioner, reveals a significant hurdle: despite NAFTA's free trade pact in the 1990s facilitating the exchange of numerous goods between the U.S. and Mexico, fresh American potatoes remained largely absent from the Mexican market. As Brian explains at [06:37], "Our Wada family farm has grown from 100 acres to 32,000 acres. It's one of the biggest growers and shippers of potatoes in America."

NAFTA and the Seeds of Conflict

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was envisioned to streamline trade among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Erica summarizes at [07:55], "As part of NAFTA, Mexico agreed to totally open up the market to fresh American potatoes." However, the reality proved more complicated. Jeff notes at [08:29], "Free trade, it's never quite as simple as flipping a switch," highlighting the unforeseen challenges that arose post-agreement.

Pests and Protectionism: The Columbia Root Knot Nematode

A primary barrier emerged in the form of the Columbia root knot nematode, a pest threatening Mexico's potato crops. Matt Lance, an international trade consultant known as the "potato guy," explains at [10:31], "These nematodes, they're not harmful to humans, but if they spread to Mexican potato farms, it could devastate them." Consequently, Mexico restricted American potato shipments to a 16-mile border zone, effectively creating a "potato DMZ" ([11:35] Matt Lance).

The Emergence of Protectionist Tactics

The American potato industry's attempts to penetrate the Mexican market were met with increasing resistance. Erica narrates at [12:17], "Mexico was looking for these nematodes a lot harder than we were. They were peeling 400 tubers," suggesting that inspections were more stringent than necessary. Matt Lance posits at [14:05], "Quarantine issues were becoming the new way, a non-tariff barrier, the new way of keeping any product you didn't want in your country."

Legal Battles and the Potato Court

Frustrated by ongoing rejections, U.S. and Mexican negotiators turned to a specialized dispute resolution system established under NAFTA. At [18:14], Matt describes the process: "We're gonna take it to potato court," referring to a panel of international potato pest experts. The judges concluded at [18:28], "Most of Mexico's potato pest concerns were not really legitimate," favoring the U.S. potato industry's stance.

The Role of Interest Groups: Con Papa

Despite initial victories, the Mexican potato lobby, Con Papa (La Confederacion Nacional de Productores de Papa de la Republica Mexicana), continued to obstruct U.S. potato shipments. In 2014, Con Papa escalated the conflict by filing a constitutional lawsuit arguing that the Mexican Department of Agriculture lacked authority to permit American potatoes, as detailed at [23:22]. Judge Jose Francisco Peresmiel, influenced by local interests, ruled in favor of Con Papa, reinstating the potato DMZ.

From NAFTA to USMCA: Renewed Negotiations

The prolonged dispute persisted until the advent of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2020, which replaced NAFTA. Doug McCaleb, a senior advisor and key diplomat, strategized at [26:25] to ensure that potato discussions remained central in U.S.-Mexico negotiations. This focused approach culminated in 2022 when Mexico finally agreed to lift the potato DMZ, allowing American potatoes to traverse the entire country.

Conclusion: A Decades-Long Triumph

After 26 years of negotiations, legal battles, and persistent lobbying, fresh American potatoes began arriving across Mexico in May 2022. Brian Wada optimistically stated at [29:03], "I think we're growing the market in general by introducing just new products and new varieties that haven't been there before." While Mexican consumers have yet to develop the same fervor for American russet potatoes as Americans have for avocados, the door is now open for potential market growth.

Doug McCaleb reflects at [27:42], "You don't sign a free trade agreement and everybody goes home and the benefits kick in automatically." The episode underscores the intricate interplay between free trade, agricultural regulations, and interest group politics, illustrating that the promise of free trade is often mediated by complex technicalities and power dynamics.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jeff Guo [00:36]: "It was filled with potatoes from end to end, piled 18ft high. 15 million potatoes."

• Brian Wada [06:37]: "Our Wada family farm has grown from 100 acres to 32,000 acres. It's one of the biggest growers and shippers of potatoes in America."

• Matt Lance [10:31]: "These nematodes, they're not harmful to humans, but if they spread to Mexican potato farms, it could devastate them."

• Matt Lance [14:05]: "Quarantine issues were becoming the new way, a non-tariff barrier, the new way of keeping any product you didn't want in your country."

• Matt Lance [18:28]: "Most of Mexico's potato pest concerns were not really legitimate."

• Brian Wada [29:03]: "I think we're growing the market in general by introducing just new products and new varieties that haven't been there before."

• Doug McCaleb [27:42]: "You don't sign a free trade agreement and everybody goes home and the benefits kick in automatically."

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Understanding the Broader Implications

This episode of Planet Money delves deep into how ostensibly neutral regulations, like pest control, can serve as powerful tools for economic protectionism. The story of American potatoes in Mexico exemplifies the challenges and negotiations inherent in free trade, revealing that beneath the surface of globalization lies a complex web of scientific standards, legal frameworks, and vested interests. For consumers and businesses alike, it highlights that the flow of goods across borders is seldom straightforward and is often influenced by factors beyond mere supply and demand.

Transcript

[Edward Jones]

Support for npr and the following message come from Edward Jones. What is rich? Maybe it's less about reaching a magic number and more about discovering the magic in life. Edward Jones Financial Advisors are people you can count on for financial strategies that help support a life you love. Edward Jones Member SIPC this is Planet Money from npr.

[Erica Barras]

Oh, we're going in.

[Jeff Guo]

A few weeks ago, we walked into this structure.

[Edward Jones]

There we are.

[Jeff Guo]

It was like three stories tall, the size of an airplane hangar, and it was filled with potatoes from end to end, piled 18ft high. 15 million potatoes.

[Erica Barras]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jeff Guo]

Oh, be careful.

[Brian Wada]

It's a little muddy here.

[Erica Barras]

So. Oh, my goodness.

[Jeff Guo]

This is literally a mountain.

[Erica Barras]

It's a wall of potato. We're at this wall of pot to learn about what happens after a trade deal is signed. In this case, it's this wild saga that's been playing out over the past quarter century.

[Jeff Guo]

All these potatoes belong to Brian Wada. He's a third generation potato farmer in Pingree, Idaho, and we were inside one of his giant climate controlled potato warehouses.

[Erica Barras]

Can we climb this ladder?

[Brian Wada]

Of course. Be careful.

[Erica Barras]

All three of us get on this ladder that's precariously propped up against the giant mountain of potatoes. I don't normally climb ladders up potatoes, so I'm going a little slower.

[Jeff Guo]

I feel like we're climbing Mount Everest. And when we get to the top, we take a step out onto this vast plateau. It's like bigger than a hockey rink, except the whole floor is made of potatoes.

[Erica Barras]

Yeah. It felt like we were walking on loose cobblestones, except they were potatoes.

[Jeff Guo]

There were so many potatoes.

[Erica Barras]

Wait, we're gonna just stand on all these potatoes?

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah.

[Erica Barras]

Can we do that?

[Brian Wada]

Yes.

[Jeff Guo]

Oh, my God.

[Erica Barras]

I'm not hurting them. Oh, my goodness. Oh, this is so cool.

[Jeff Guo]

Brian is not quite as excited as we are. He's been clambering up hills of potatoes like this one his entire life.

[Erica Barras]

Did you used to come play up here when you were a kid?

[Brian Wada]

You know, when you were kids, the funnest thing was you just slide on your bottom down the base of the pile. I would, because you will get very dirty. But it was cool.

[Erica Barras]

That's fun.

[Jeff Guo]

We should do it.

[Erica Barras]

We should do it. Jeff sits at the top of the potato mountain.

[Jeff Guo]

You just sit down on the potatoes. Yeah.

[Brian Wada]

This is very light on technique.

[Erica Barras]

And eases his way downhill.

[Jeff Guo]

Wait, I am. I'm sliding.

[Brian Wada]

Well, the rate of descent is not extremely soft. Yeah, yeah.

[Erica Barras]

So it's picking up. It's picking up.

[Matt Lance]

Oh, God.

[Erica Barras]

It was amazing. It was one of the best things I've ever seen.

[Jeff Guo]

It was like a mini potato avalanche. I felt like I was surfing down an avalanche.

[Erica Barras]

Here in the rich volcanic soils of southern Idaho is one of the best places in the world to grow potatoes. And Brian Wada's potatoes. These potatoes, Jeff, is joyfully and maybe kind of fearfully sliding down.

[Jeff Guo]

I think a potato got up my shirt.

[Erica Barras]

They go all over the place, from the Florida Keys all the way to, like, the central California coast. They end up at Walmart, McDonald's.

[Jeff Guo]

But for 26 years, there was a place that Brian's potatoes did not go, a place that, in fact, the entire American potato industry has been desperate to access.

[Erica Barras]

It's a vast untapped market right on our doorstep. Mexico. Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Erica Barras.

[Jeff Guo]

And I'm Jeff Guo. Ever since free trade opened up between the US and Mexico in the 1990s, trillions of dollars of goods have been going back and forth between the two countries, from cars to strawberries to MRI machines to fruit of the loom underwear. But one major exception has been fresh American potatoes.

[Erica Barras]

Today on the show, American farmers spent more than 25 years trying to get their potatoes over the southern border. Standing in their way, a trade loophole and the Mexican potato lobby, La Confederacion Nacional de Productores de Papa de la Republica Mexicana, better known as Con Papa, who were able to take advantage of an ingenious technicality in the way nearly all free trade agreements work.

[Doug McCaleb]

This message comes from Charles Schwab. When it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices like full service, wealth management and advice when you need it. You can also invest on your own and trade on thinkorswim. Visit schwab.com to learn more support for NPR. And the following message come from ixlonline. Is your child asking questions on their homework you don't feel equipped to answer? IXL learning uses advanced algorithms to give the right help to each kid, no matter the age or personality. One subscription gets you everything. One site for all the kids in your home, Pre K to 12th grade. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and NPR listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up [e-mail] NPR.

[Erica Barras]

When Ryan Wada's grandparents first came to Idaho, they basically had nothing. It was the middle of World War II, and as Japanese Americans, they'd been forced out of their home in California.

[Brian Wada]

So they moved inland and ended up really where we're at now in Pingree, Idaho and started over as a 100 acre sharecropper.

[Jeff Guo]

Brian grew up on his family's farm. A decade ago he took it over. His whole world revolves around this place.

[Brian Wada]

I live here, I live on the farm, I live in my grandparents house about 100 yards away from the warehouse and office.

[Erica Barras]

So 100 yards away from where we're sitting like right now?

[Brian Wada]

Yeah.

[Erica Barras]

Over the course of three generations, the Wada family farm has grown from 100 acres to 32,000 acres. It's one of the biggest growers and shippers of potatoes in America.

[Jeff Guo]

Brian himself is now an Idaho potato commissioner and he's like, here's the situation. American farmers would love to sell their fresh potatoes outside the U.S. but potatoes are heavy, they're dense, they're like 80% water. So you really want to find customers that are close by, which is why.

[Erica Barras]

They were so excited at the idea of sending potatoes to Mexico where they don't eat quite as many potatoes as we do here in the U.S. but they could.

[Brian Wada]

That's an untapped country. And so how many times are you going to get a great marketplace that has a high population base that has never had US Potatoes for the most part.

[Jeff Guo]

Like sure, Mexico had its own potato industry, but they didn't grow that many potatoes. And they certainly didn't grow the kind of potatoes that American farmers are famous for. The classic Idaho russet. Like, you know, picture that perfect brown oblong baked potato. It's sliced open, a pat of butter is melting into that soft, fluffy interior.

[Erica Barras]

The best.

[Jeff Guo]

Yes, those are the potatoes that Brian thinks could go big in Mexico.

[Erica Barras]

Now the dream of selling American potatoes to Mexico really got started about three decades ago with the signing of the North American free trade agreement. NAFTA.

[Jeff Guo]

NAFTA. NAFTA, of course, was this massive trade deal in the 1990s between the U.S. mexico and Canada. It was kind of the beginning of the worldwide frenzy over globalization. NAFTA opened the floodgates to goods moving across the US border. It changed everything about the way Americans consume and buy and live.

[Erica Barras]

It also seemed like NAFTA was going to change everything for the US potato industry. Before nafta, American companies could basically only sell processed potatoes to Mexico, like frozen French fries or potato chips. But as part of nafta, Mexico agreed to totally open up the market to fresh American potatoes.

[Jeff Guo]

Okay, but free trade, it's never quite as simple as flipping a switch. And now that two countries are trading, in the case of plants and agricultural products, there's the problem of invasive species, you know, like pests and diseases, stuff you really don't want crossing borders.

[Erica Barras]

So after a big trade agreement is signed, when one country actually wants to start shipping a new type of crop to another country, their agriculture departments have to figure out how to do it in a safe way. Like, what kind of pests do these American potatoes have? How are they going to inspect for those pests? Governments have to come up with all these standards for how a potato is going to make it across the border.

[Jeff Guo]

And quite possibly the person who knows the most about these complicated standards is Matt Lance. Everyone calls him the potato guy.

[Matt Lance]

I love potatoes. I like baked potatoes. I like dehydrated potatoes. I like hash browns. You name it, I like it. It was a perfect fit for the food I like. Yep.

[Erica Barras]

Matt is not a potato farmer himself. He's an international trade consultant. Back in the 1990s, Matt was hired by American potato farmers to help lobby for their interests in these tricky negotiations.

[Matt Lance]

I had been, believe it or not, at the Kennedy school of government, training Russian politicians how to win elections.

[Jeff Guo]

But you went from. Sorry, you went from.

[Matt Lance]

That's right, I went from trying to promote democracy and political party building in Russia to potatoes. That's right.

[Erica Barras]

What was harder?

[Matt Lance]

Maybe potatoes, I don't know.

[Jeff Guo]

Right. So right after nafta, as fresh US Potatoes are going to Mexico, this problem starts to emerge. Mexico is complaining that US Potatoes have too many pests. They're especially worried about something called the Columbia root knot nematode.

[Matt Lance]

It's a little worm. Yeah.

[Erica Barras]

Did we. Did we actually have that, though?

[Matt Lance]

Oh, yeah, yeah, we have that pest.

[Erica Barras]

Okay. So it was like, it was a little founded.

[Matt Lance]

Oh, yeah. There's a strong basis for this.

[Jeff Guo]

Matt says, yeah, these were legitimate concerns. This nematode, it's not harmful to humans, but if it spread to the potato potato crops in Mexico, it could devastate Mexican farms. Mexico did not want to take that chance. So just two years after NAFTA went into effect, the Mexican government basically put a halt to US Potato shipments. Said, any American potatoes, they are limited to this special 16 mile region along the border.

[Matt Lance]

There are border checkpoints outside of that border region, and they would stop the potatoes from going any further.

[Jeff Guo]

It was like a potato dmz.

[Matt Lance]

Yeah, that's exactly what it was. It was a potato dmz.

[Erica Barras]

The American potato farmers were furious. They were like, mexico is way overreacting. They're essentially closing the market to our potatoes. Pretty soon, this becomes one of the major trade food fights between the two countries.

[Jeff Guo]

One of the other big food fights involved avocados, because while all this was happening, Mexican farmers were trying to get more of their avocados into the US and they were running into kind of the same problem. The United States said that the Mexican avocados had too many diseases.

[Erica Barras]

So the two countries start negotiating, and eventually they agree on protocols for inspections and some other precautions that should help minimize the number of pests in these potatoes and avocados. But they also recognize that in order to open up trade, they're each going to have to take on a certain amount of risk.

[Matt Lance]

And they agreed that Mexico would open the market for US Potatoes and the US Would open the market for Mexican avocados.

[Erica Barras]

Pretty soon, the US Is buying millions more Mexican avocados. All that avocado toast, bankrupting millennials. But US Potatoes are having a much harder time getting into Mexico. They keep failing Mexico's inspections. And from Matt's perspective, the problem is that Mexico is being way too picky.

[Matt Lance]

And it turns out Mexico was looking for these nematodes a lot harder than we were. They were peeling 400 tubers.

[Doug McCaleb]

Whoa.

[Matt Lance]

Trying to find the protocol said we had to just look at the potato, look at five potatoes, make sure it wasn't there. Mexico, it turns out, was peeling all the potatoes, and you can see the nematodes a lot easier.

[Jeff Guo]

It's not just about the nematodes or the nematodes.

[Erica Barras]

Nematode, potato, potah to, same difference.

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah.

[Erica Barras]

Yeah.

[Jeff Guo]

The Mexican inspectors, they claim they're finding all kinds of other viruses and funguses and insects. They're turning back hundreds of American potato shipments. And for this very reason, they say that this dmz, it is staying in place. Fresh American potatoes cannot go any further than that border zone. For US Potato farmers, it's almost like NAFTA had never even happened.

[Matt Lance]

So this is getting silly.

[Jeff Guo]

It does sound like maybe it's not really about the pests in the first place.

[Matt Lance]

Yes, we've come to that conclusion a long time ago, but yes.

[Erica Barras]

Yeah. Matt and the rest of the U.S. potato industry suspected that Mexico had an ulterior motive here, because, remember, Mexico had its own potato industry. And the Mexican potato farmers were understandably upset at the prospect of all these American Russets coming in and taking over their market. Now, Mexican farmers couldn't stop nafta. They couldn't undo this huge international free trade deal, but they could push the government to make a big fuss about pests as a scheme to stall for time to keep the American competition at bay.

[Jeff Guo]

Matt says as Free trade was taking off in the 1990s. More and more countries were using these kinds of pest concerns as a pretext to protect their own farmers from competition. These pest regulations, which were supposed to be about science and plant health, were turning into a sneaky form of economic protectionism.

[Matt Lance]

And it wasn't just Mexico. This was happening all over the world. Quarantine issues were becoming the new way, a non tariff barrier, the new way of keeping any product you didn't want in your country. You would just say there's a quarantine issue and you wouldn't let it in. And that would prevent market access.

[Erica Barras]

Here was a huge loophole built into basically every free trade agreement, because every country has a right to keep out products that might carry invasive pests or diseases.

[Jeff Guo]

Yeah, because history is full of these horror stories. Think of the Irish potato blight that was caused by a pest that came over from the Americas. There's also the fungus that killed off, like all of America's chestnut trees 100 years ago that came over from Asia. Right now, Florida oranges are being devastated by a species of bacteria that showed up on our shores 20 years ago.

[Erica Barras]

This is what makes pest regulations such a good loophole in our international system of free trade. It's a totally legitimate reason to shut down trade entirely or subject foreign crops to an endless process of bureaucratic inspections and risk assessments and pilot programs, you know, just to be safe.

[Jeff Guo]

Which is why there have been hundreds of formal diplomatic complaints over the past couple decades. Countries accusing each other of playing games with pest regulations. Like Argentina was mad that the US Wouldn't take its Argentine lemons. The US Was mad that Japan was being picky about American apples.

[Erica Barras]

In the case of American potatoes, Matt was fairly certain that Mexico was playing games using these pest concerns as a pretext.

[Jeff Guo]

And maybe the best example of the absurdity of the situation has to do with that Columbia root knot nematode, that little worm that Mexico kept making a big deal about in the US Potato ship.

[Matt Lance]

Then we found out, and this was a big discovery. Mexico has Columbia root knot nematode.

[Erica Barras]

Yeah, Mexico had the same nematode. It claimed that the nematode was under control, that it was only in a few places and those places were quarantined. But in 2009, Matt discovers that potatoes from those quarantined places could actually travel anywhere in Mexico. It seemed pretty hypocritical.

[Jeff Guo]

Now, when the U.S. and Mexico were negotiating NAFTA, they kind of anticipated that pest concerns could become a point of contention. So as part of nafta. They designated an organization to help resolve these kinds of disputes. In 2011, the two countries agreed it was time to call them in.

[Matt Lance]

Why don't we have some objective potato experts listen to both of our arguments and then make a ruling on who's right?

[Jeff Guo]

You're gonna take this to potato court?

[Matt Lance]

We're gonna take it to potato court.

[Erica Barras]

It's actually just a panel of three scientists.

[Matt Lance]

And the rules were they could not be from the United States or Mexico, so they had to be international. They had to be potato pest experts. And then both sides would make their case and the three judges would then do the review.

[Erica Barras]

The potato judges come back with their ruling. Their scientific opinion was that most of Mexico's potato pest pest concerns were not really legitimate. Like, yes, the US Had a couple of serious pests, but there were simple ways to deal with that, and the risks they posed were fairly minimal. In other words, the US had triumphed.

[Jeff Guo]

By 2014, a full 20 years after NAFTA went into effect, Mexico finally agrees to get rid of the potato dmz. All of Mexico was now open to American potatoes. At least that is what the US Potato farmers thought.

[Matt Lance]

We shipped throughout the country for three weeks. We have our first photos of potatoes in Mexico City. We're thrilled. We're giving each other high fives. And then the Mexican potato industry files injunctions to immediately stop all shipments to keep us out.

[Erica Barras]

The Mexican potato industry had found one more way to stop American potatoes from getting into the country. That's after the break.

[Edward Jones]

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[Erica Barras]

Terms apply [e-mail] In 2014, Jose Francisco Peresmiel started a new appointed post as a federal judge in a potato growing region of Mexico, Los Mochis Sinaloa. Which was great for him because he told me in Spanish that while he didn't know anything about this dispute, he does love potatoes. He said, yeah, when he moved there, he started eating more potatoes. That's why he stayed kind of chubby. He used to be thinner.

[Jeff Guo]

A few months into Judge Jose's new job, a case came across his desk involving a group he'd never heard of before.

[Erica Barras]

Con Papa is to Mexico what the National Potato Council is to us. A group that represents the interests of Mexican potato farmers. It's short for La Confederacion Nacional de Productores de Papa de la Republica Mexicana, and they call themselves Con Papa. The Spanish word for potato is papa, so the translation is with potato. And Compapa's goal is to protect the Mexican potato industry. Now, we reached out to Con Papa, but they didn't want to do an interview with us.

[Jeff Guo]

So while US farmers had been lobbying to get their potatoes into Mexico, Con Papa had been lobbying to keep them out. Behind the scenes, Con Papa had been urging the Mexican government to really take these potato pests seriously. And in 2014, when they lost that battle, they threw a final Hail Mary.

[Erica Barras]

They filed a lawsuit, not just any lawsuit, a constitutional lawsuit, that claimed that the Mexican government had violated their rights to a healthy environment and food sources when it agreed to let in American potatoes. They go before Judge Jose and ask him to use his power to block the American potatoes from entering the country.

[Jeff Guo]

It was a weird argument. It was kind of out there. But Jose says he saw the desperation of all these farmers and business owners who were pleading with him.

[Erica Barras]

And he says it was difficult for him. He believes in free trade. He didn't want to mess with the free market, but he lived in potato country. He could picture how letting in fresh American potatoes could harm his neighbors. So he took action. Principalmente Papera Tomea Jose ruled in favor of the potato lobby. He declared that the Mexican government, specifically the Mexican Department of Agriculture, did not have the power to let in the potatoes. Once Again, American potatoes were stuck in the border region. That potato dmz.

[Jeff Guo]

And, okay, look at it this. This was classic interest group politics, right? Free trade has this way of creating winners and losers. The winners tend to be consumers who get access to cheaper goods. Think of all the stuff that we import from China. The losers tend to be the local industries who get crowded out, out competed. Think of, like, U.S. manufacturers.

[Erica Barras]

Now, in the grand scheme of things, economists like to say that the benefits of trade outweigh the costs. But for the losers, it doesn't always feel that way. And when those groups are politically organized, like, say, Kunpapa, they can use their power to make things happen.

[Jeff Guo]

In this case, Kunpapa's legal maneuvers bought them another seven years. Eventually, in 2021, their case reaches the Mexican Supreme Court, which unanimously overturns Jose's decision, says that the Mexican government does indeed have the power to negotiate and set these pest regulations. Soon after that, the Americans and the Mexicans are back at the negotiating table. And so much time had passed that NAFTA at this point had actually ended. It'd gotten replaced in 2020 by a new trade deal, the USMCA, the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement.

[Erica Barras]

One key person behind these new potato negotiations was a diplomat named Doug McCaleb, who has been thinking about the potato issue for a long time.

[G]

I began at USDA while I was still a college student. Now I got kids in college. I got a gray beard. So my career has sort of intertwined, and the pathway has kind of gone along with the potato saga in one shape or form.

[Jeff Guo]

When the Mexican Supreme Court made its decision, Doug was senior advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture, and he came up with a diplomatic strategy for this potato negotiation. A big part of it, essentially, was that whenever Mexico and the US Would talk about anything, like anything at all, they also had to talk about potatoes.

[G]

It meant ensuring that all agencies, if they were having discussions with the Mexican government, always put the potato at the front of every agenda.

[Erica Barras]

So that was a conscious thing. This wasn't like an afterthought. The potato kind of got moved up to the forefront then.

[G]

Yeah, that's right.

[Erica Barras]

Discussion after discussion, it was potato, potato, potato.

[Jeff Guo]

And in 2022, it actually happens. Mexico agrees once and for all that American potatoes are welcome. It's a process that took 26 years, decades of negotiations, but starting in May that year, the first American potato shipments arrive all across Mexico. No more potato dmz.

[Erica Barras]

This has been one of the longest running, most complex trade sagas in modern times. But Doug says it gives you a window into how free trade actually works.

[G]

Yeah, you don't sign a free trade agreement and everybody goes home and the benefits kick in automatically.

[Erica Barras]

Our system of free trade, it's never been entirely free. It's subject to a complex system of rules and technicalities. Rules about pests, rules about safety standards and labeling requirements. And because free trade inevitably creates those winners and losers, technical rules have a way of becoming political.

[Jeff Guo]

But sometimes, sometimes it is possible for everyone to maybe come out a winner. Like when the US Let in all those Mexican avocados. Avocado farmers in California were livid. But then a funny thing happened. Americans became obsessed with avocados. Avocado consumption tripled. So American farmers have continued to sell their avocados alongside the Mexican farmers.

[Erica Barras]

Now, Mexican consumers have not yet become obsessed with American potatoes, but US Farmers hope that with more potatoes in the market, the market will grow. Besides, Brian Wada, the third generation potato farmer, points out that we're sending those big brown russet bakers. They're different than what Mexican farmers grow. Those potatoes are smaller and thinner skinned, so they're complimentary. They can coexist.

[Brian Wada]

The potato varieties are different. I don't think we're taking away market share from domestic growers. I think we're growing the market in general by introducing just new products and new varieties that haven't been there before.

[Jeff Guo]

At the end of our tour, Brian took us to his shipping facility where his potatoes are packed up for their journeys across the country. And now some of those potatoes at long last are bound for Mexico. So should we say goodbye to these potatoes?

[Erica Barras]

Let's say goodbye. Adios.

[Jeff Guo]

Bon voyage.

[Erica Barras]

Hasta luego. Goodbye, potatoes.

[Jeff Guo]

Today's show was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Meg Kramer. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez, who also contributed research engineering by Sina Lofredo. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. A special thanks to Cam Quarles and David Lopez. I'm Jeff Woe.

[Erica Barras]

And I'm Erica Barras. This is npr. Thanks for listening.

[Doug McCaleb]

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