ABSTRACT
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sparked the transformation of the production of avocados in North America. The Agreement meant that avocados from Mexico could be sold in the United States for the first time, which ultimately meant that Mexican avocados came to dominate the US market. Opening up the US market was hard-won since US avocado producers fought bitterly to protect their interests. Prior to NAFTA, domestic avocados had an advantage over imported ones since there were protectionist policies in place. But with the signing of NAFTA and the move towards free trade, those protections started to be eroded, and eventually, the Mexicans were granted tariff- and barrier-free access. Once the protections had been removed, US producers could not compete and Mexican avocados came to dominate the US market, which could never have been achieved without NAFTA. Ultimately, the Agreement enabled the fruit to move from a traditional, local fruit into a global commodity crop.
