While fresh cranberries are spared, for now, the European Union is imposing a 25% retaliatory tariff on U.S. cranberry juice concentrate imports beginning June 22.
The tariffs come after President Trump imposed tariffs, effective June 1, of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum from Mexico, Canada, and the European Union.
U.S. cranberry suppliers in 2017 exported $41 million worth of cranberry concentrate to the European Union, with another $86 million in sweetened dried cranberry exports.
Sweetened dried cranberries are on a second list of proposed tariffs by the European Union, but the date when those tariffs will start hasn’t been determined and could be as late as 2021, according to Terry Humfeld, executive director of The Cranberry Institute, Carver, Mass.
“We have gotten a bit of a reprieve on the dried cranberries for now, but we don’t know how long it will last,” he said.
The United Kingdom imports about $1.4 million in fresh U.S. cranberries when the crop is in season, and so far there is no additional EU tariff on fresh cranberries.
“Fresh is such a small part of our business that it would be it would be a negligible hit anyway but from our perspective, we would like to keep fresh off the list if at all possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, Humfeld said that China on July 6 will impose a retaliatory tariff of 25% on U.S. dried cranberry imports, in addition to an existing tariff of 15%. The U.S. shipped about $45 million in dried cranberries to China last year.
Mexico applied a 20% retaliatory tariff on sweetened dried cranberries from the U.S. on June 4. In 2017, the U.S. exported about $30 million in dried cranberries to Mexico.
Canada, meanwhile, recently announced a duty effective July 1 on cranberry juice drinks and cocktails. There is no trade estimate on the value of cranberry juice or cocktail exports to Canada.
Humfeld said other countries are strategically targeting cranberries because they seek to pressure influential politicians such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, to push for change to Trump’s trade policies. Wisconsin is the leading state for cranberry production.
“We continue to be hopeful that cooler heads prevail and get people to the table talking sense and finding some resolution because long-term this is not where we want to be, not only for cranberries but for any of our agricultural products,” he said.
