Importers in the United States are still assessing the impact of the recently announced new set of tariffs in imported goods. This time, the United States will impose a raft of additional duties on European imports. These range from aircraft to Scotch whiskey to clothing, but there are also certain produce items that will be affected.
Mainly citrus
The entire list of the new round of tariffs is available to be viewed here. For fresh produce, processed cherries - dried and preserved, preserved pears and pear juice, prepared or preserved peaches (but not nectarines), prune juice, as well as currant and berry fruit jellies, will be subject to additional import duties of 25 percent. It's not yet clear how this will affect European producers of these items.
Arguably the main item of interest is the 25 percent additional duty on imported fresh oranges, lemons, clementines, and mandarins. Of mandarins, for example, the paper reads, "Mandarins and other similar citrus hybrids including tangerines, satsumas, clementines, wilkings, fresh or dried." This applies to citrus from all EU member countries, including Spain - a major source of citrus for the US.
John Paap of Jac. Vandenberg - which imports various citrus products from Spain and other countries - said, "We are still analyzing the situation as it has just come out." Another citrus importer, Sbrocco International, echoed these thoughts, "We still don't know how these new tariffs will affect the industry," said one spokesperson there.
Applies from October 18
The new duties will come into force from October 18 and follows a World Trade Organization's ruling allowing the US to impose up to $7.5 billion in tariffs on European products each year.
The tariffs will be applied to "a range of imports from EU Member States", United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement. However, the bulk of the tariffs will be associated with products from France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. Additionally, according to Lighthizer, the US has the authority to increase the tariffs at any time, or change the products affected.
For more information:
John Paap
Jac. Vandenberg, Inc.
Ph: +1 (914) 964-5900
jpaap@jacvandenberg.com
www.jacvandenberg.com
Sbrocco International
Ph: +1 (856) 424-6151
sales@sbrocco.com
www.good4ufreshfruit.com