Following this past weekend’s announcement from President Joe Biden’s administration that it will ease tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, U.S. apple growers say that while the news is welcome, there are mixed feelings around its impact on the domestic apple industry.
“Hopefully, this will be the first step in helping reclaim market share for other U.S. export-dependent farm commodities. But for most U.S. apples the announcement will have little positive effect since the E.U.’s unscientific rules against even infinitesimally low residues of modern production compounds lock U.S. growers out of that market. Specifically, the compound used to help prevent storage rot and make those healthy apples available year-round,” says Jim Bair, president & CEO of the U.S. Apple Association in a press release.
Photo: United Apple Sales
Bair adds that U.S. apples sampled through the national pesticide residue monitoring program have either no residues or residues far below EPA’s tolerances. “A child could eat 340 servings of apples every day without effect from pesticide residues. The E.U.’s arbitrary rules deny its consumers the superior new apple varieties being grown in the United States,” he says.
EU as a market
In Wenatchee, WA, Steve Reinholt of Starr Ranch Growers agrees that the decision will have modest impact on the industry. “The European Union is not a major market for us on this coast,” says Reinholt. “But this is good but it would be more of a benefit to those on the East Coast because they do target the E.U. a little more than we do because of proximity. It’s a benefit to the industry if they’re able to ship more fruit. Every apple that we ship, whoever ships it, is another one moving into the distribution system. That’s good for everybody.”
In the East, Brett Baker of United Apple Sales of Lyndonville, NY says nothing changes for United Apple. “If anything, it worries me that we will be more lax here and open the door to more imported fruit from the E.U. to our markets,” he says. “I hope this does not set precedent that the administration will lower the standards for imported fruit coming to the U.S.”
Left: Brett Baker; right: Brenda Briggs (with Ben Rice, president of Rice Fruit).
Looking ahead
However, this announcement offers hope of a potentially similar review of the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed on India and China. “Respectively, these were the second and sixth ranked export markets for U.S. apples before the tariffs. Total tariffs against U.S. apples are 70 percent in India and 55 percent in China, taking a large bite out of the United States’ formerly one-billion-dollar apple export market,” says Bair.
“It’s good to hear of this development and the easing of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the U.K.," says Brenda Briggs of Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, PA. (Briggs is also a board member with USApple.) “In recent years, the apple industry has faced retaliatory tariffs in many vital markets, and export sales have suffered as a result. The easing of tariffs in world markets opens free trade and an opportunity for people worldwide to enjoy American apples. The health of our industry is dependent upon free trade, so we hope to see similar progress in more key markets.”
For more information:
Tracy Grondine
U.S. Apple Association
www.usapple.org
Steve Reinholt
Starr Ranch Growers
www.starranch.com
Brett Baker
United Apple Sales
www.unitedapplesales.com
Brenda Briggs
Rice Fruit Co.
https://ricefruit.com/