Trump Is Playing Games With Our Cherries--and It Might Help a Democrat Beat Rossi in the 8th
The president thinks our $500 billion trade deficit is bad (it's not), and he thinks China is stealing our intellectual property (they are but it's not that bad), and so he's launched a full-on trade war against China. As many outlets reported, Friday at midnight he imposed significant tariffs on a range of goods, which spurred China to retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. products, including our very own, beloved, world-renowned, Pacific Northwest cherries.
In addition to a 10 percent tariff they had already imposed on cherries and a 15 percent tariff they imposed after Trump's first punch, China slapped an additional 25 percent tariff on the beloved stone fruit this morning, bringing the total to 50 percent. "This is a problem," said Mark Powers, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council.
Last year, China was the largest international market for cherries, taking 32 percent of U.S. exports and 11 percent of the crop. A 50 percent tariff will likely impact the demand for cherries in China and therefore the amount of money PNW growers make on their harvest. "Likely both Chinese consumers and Washington growers will pay for [the tariff]," Powers said. "Our concern is that it will mostly be on the Washington grower."
The reasons for that are complicated, but also a little fun to know. China is willing to pay a premium for cherries, and they're specifically willing to pay a premium for PNW cherries because they are so sweet and red and good, or so says the PNW horticultural lobbyist. This is all to say that Chinese consumers might not mind paying a little more for what's already considered a luxury fruit.
Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/07/06/28787146/trump-is-playing-games-with-our-cherries-and-it-might-help-a-dem-beat-rossi-in-the-8th
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