American fruit farmers fret about trade tensions

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The fruit industry in the US state of Washington has been snagged in the crossfire of the ongoing trade disputes between the US and China. China's tariffs on about three billion US dollars worth of US imports, including a 15 percent tax on fruit, went into effect Monday.

The Chinese trade penalty will especially punish Washington State, which ships more cherries, apples and pears to China than any other part of the country.

China is the top export market for Washington cherries. The state's 1,400 cherry growers depend on the Chinese market – the country brought in an estimated 127 million US dollars worth of cherries last year, according to the Washington State Tree Fruit Association.

In that case, cherry growers are worried that their exports to China will be hurt by the increasing tensions.

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“We started to develop that market 11 years ago. We produced over 260,000 tons of cherries and 33,000 tons of cherries went to China. That’s roughly 13 percent of total production,” said Keith Hu, director of international operations at Northwest Cherry Growers.

Cherry is not the only fruit suffering. Apples and pears are also included in the trade disputes. Official data show that China bought about 50 million US dollars worth of apples and 1.5 million US dollars worth of pears from the state last year. And that supported 1,260 jobs in Washington.

Growers are concerned that if the trade tensions continue to escalate, Chinese consumers may look elsewhere for the produce.

"We’re already facing a 10 percent import duty, a 13 percent value added tax and now with an additional 15 percent, so we’re looking at a minimum 35 percent tax. So if you add 15 percent on top of that, you’re paying that much for [fruits, and] you have other options,” Hu told CGTN.