ADMINISTRATION CUTS DEAL TO CURB MEXICAN TOMATO EXPORTS TO U.S.

Byline: The New York Times

Defusing a major political issue in Florida just weeks before the election, the Clinton administration Friday pressured Mexico into an agreement that will end the shipment of low-price tomatoes to the United States.

The deal satisfies both growers and government officials in one of the most hotly contested states in the presidential election. For years Florida has been demanding protection from competition from roughly $800 million in tomatoes that come over the border annually.

Friday's action, which seems likely to raise the price that consumers will pay this winter for tomatoes, was the latest in a series of efforts by the administration to sidestep trade problems that could prove politically troublesome.

Early this year, for example, it delayed an opening of the Mexican border to Mexican trucks under the North American Free Trade Agreement, contending that the trucks were unsafe and a conduit for drugs. It also limited lumber imports from Canada.

The architect of these deals for the administration was also one of President Clinton's closest political confidants, Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor.

As Clinton's campaign manager in 1992 - and, in recent weeks, his negotiator with Bob Dole's campaign over the ground rules for the presidential debates - Kantor is extraordinarily attuned to the politics of trade accords.

Kantor was in Seattle on Friday at a campaign appearance, and could not be reached for comment. But in a statement released in Washington, he said: ``The agreement will provide strong relief to the tomato growers in Florida and other states and help preserve jobs in the industry. Mexican growers will have continued access to the U.S. market, but only on fair terms.''