USApple Asking For Removal Of Steel And Aluminum Tariffs

Recently, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office met with counterparts from India to start Ag trade negotiations. USApple said while they appreciate the effort to restart negotiations with one of the largest markets in the world, more needs to be done. USApple President and CEO Jim Bair said India historically is a strong market for American growers.

He noted just a few years ago, India was the 3^rd largest apple export market, with demand “exploding” in 2016-2017. With demand doubling that year, India became the #2 destination for U.S. apples. But Bair says that all changed when the Trump Administration put tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, known as Section 232.

“Which was supposedly an attempt to hurt China, but the tariffs were put on many countries, including our allies, like India, which is the world’s largest democracy and has been our ally and should continue to be a good partner.  So, unfortunately, that forced their hand.  The tariffs that they put on our apples is now 70% total.”

Bair said not only did the actions of the Trump Administration hurt the American farmer, Section 232 was never designed to be used in this fashion.

“It was intended to be used only for purposed of National Security, in a war for example.  So to use that as what we would say is a very blunt club to try to achieve something that should have been done with a surgical scalpel.  And we’re seeing the impact and the effect of that on agricultural producers across the U.S. today.”

Bair said the U.S. government needs to remove tariffs on steel and aluminum from India, so growers can benefit from the roughly $1 billion market again.

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