Trade Talks with China Pt 2

Trade Talks with China Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The President has returned from the G-20 Summit in Japan where he talked with several trade partners including President Xi of China.

U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says getting a pact with China and other key trading markets would be a huge relief ...

NEWHOUSE ... "We feel that as a producer of some very high-quality products, we can compete with anyone in the world UNLESS we have these artificial trade barriers. So, that really impacts our ability to be successful in these markets."

In particular, Newhouse says, let's lose the tariffs ...

NEWHOUSE ... "As you know, China is a huge market for many of our products and taking some of these 50-or-70% tariffs away would be tremendous help for our producers. In a perfect world, that's exactly what we should do."

But, he says, as we all know, China isn't our only trade market ...

NEWHOUSE ... "As I said before, we have several agreements that are on the table. USMCA is kind of in our lap now. Mexico is already overwhelmingly, their federal legislature has approved it. Canada is considering it right now. The United States needs to bring that up for consideration as well and that is also something that I'm pushing very hard to do."

So, Newhouse says let's keep pushing ...

NEWHOUSE ... "If we can make progress there and then progress on the China front, I think the future will look very good for producers in the entire United States, but certainly in the state of Washington."

The good news is while Congress may be on break, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his team continues its work on USMCA.

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BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. And, joining us once again is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, tell me what fruit will be in-season in July?

AW: July brings us local fruit such as stone fruit: apricots and cherries, caneberries such as blackberries, Marionberries, boysenberries, and early raspberries; July also brings early blueberries and the end of strawberries.

BL: Apricots & cherries are stone fruit?

AW: a stone fruit or drupe describes fruit with a hard, stone-like pit, that has a seed inside, and is covered by the fleshy fruit & skin, which is the part we eat.

BL: What are blackberries & Marionberries?

AW: They are known as caneberries because they grow on a cane rather than a vine or trunk. They used to be called brambles but most commercial varieties now are thornless. They are an aggregate fruit meaning they are made up of a cluster of smaller fruits.

BL: And, all these great berries are upon us or nearly ...

AW: so get those flats of delicious berries! Jams & pies are on my mind!

BL: Well, berry good, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/pacific-northwest-seasonal-fruits-and-vegetables-2217163

https://www.registerguard.com/special/20190627/tastings-berries-are-back-right-on-track

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