U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is leading a bipartisan group of his Senate colleagues from the Northern Plains and the Pacific Northwest in seeking high-level support for U.S. dry pea producers and processors affected by India’s recent and unexpected dry pea tariff.
Daines and seven senators from both parties wrote a Nov. 17 letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urging they request Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reverse or delay the country’s Nov. 8 decision to impose a 50 percent tariff on all dry pea imports.
Effective the same day it was released, India’s tariff covers all U.S. shipments under contract and in transit to the country, which is the top export market for U.S. dry peas.
This sudden tariff increase “has caused cash dry pea prices to collapse in the United States,” the senators wrote.
Furthermore, they wrote, exporters with shipments currently en route “will suffer severe financial hardship when the tariff is applied to their product upon arrival.”
U.S. action therefore must be taken on India’s tariff or it could have a devastating impact on the American dry pea industry, according to the members’ letter.
Without an outright reversal of the tax, the senators wrote that they would support at least a 90-day delay in imposing the tariff to allow shipments under existing contracts to be delivered.
And if the Government of India continues to impose the tariff, the senators have asked that the Department of Agriculture step in and purchase the U.S. dry peas that otherwise would have been exported to India.
The senators suggested that the Agriculture Department use its authority to purchase surplus commodities to deter price depression or purchase the peas for other domestic or international sales or food-assistance programs.
U.S. Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jon Tester (D-MT), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Patty Murray (D-WA) joined Daines in signing the letter.