U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) last week requested that the administration provide trade relief for struggling apple growers in her home state and around the country.
“As our small growers weather the storms of trade disruptions, we must ensure that they have the necessary resources and support,” wrote Sen. Collins and her colleague U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) in Sept. 11 letters sent to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer.
According to the U.S. Apple Association, fresh exports of the 2018 apple crop from the United States decreased 27 percent overall from 2017, with the value of apple exports dropping 22 percent from $1.1 billion to $854 million, the lawmakers wrote.
“As larger producers in the western U.S. are no longer able to export as much product, the domestic market becomes flooded,” wrote Sen. Collins and her colleague, who called the situation as “especially harmful for smaller growers like those in Maine who rely predominantly on the domestic market for sales.”
Specifically, the senators expressed concern for the 84 apple growers in Maine, many of them small, multi-generational family businesses.
Sen. Collins and Rep. Golden also said that the May trade agreement reached with Mexico that removed a 20 percent tariff on apple exports “was a positive development,” but they added that “significant tariffs remain on apple exports to India and China.”
They urged Secretary Perdue to identify trade relief programs that could assist Maine apple growers and they requested that USTR Lighthizer ensure any final trade agreements with India and China eliminate the tariffs on apples so that producers across the country can sell their product in an open market.