Creating A Trade Barrier

Creating a Trade Barrier. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report. 

The tariff that Mexico has leveled at the U.S. on some 90 products in retaliation for a U.S. decision to cancel a cross-border trucking program, may have some far reaching ramifications. BJ Thurlby with the Washington State Fruit Commission / NW Cherry Growers. 

THURLBY: The Mexican government has seen fit to lay tariffs across the board on a lot of products anywhere from 10 to 40% and unfortunately for our growers we were on the list in a couple of different places. 

Thurlby talks about the items involved. 

THURLBY: Our biggest shipment item there besides apples, which are not on the list which is good, is pears so our fresh deal there is off the table for now and has a 20% tariff attached to it if we want to sell there. So do cherries and so do apricots. At this time peaches and nectarines are not on the list which is interesting. 

Unless the deal is reversed at some point in the near future the tariff will have a dramatic impact on the market here in the NW. 

THURLBY: You know the question is in this economy we’ve got going right now worldwide is how much damage will that have on our Mexico markets which in our small little world of stone fruit, cherries and apricots, Mexico is an important market to us. Last year we shipped 75-thousand boxes of cherries down to Mexico, we were really counting on 100-thousand or so this year; maybe more. 

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.