UPDATE: CRANBERRY RETALIATORY TARIFFS

On May 17, 2019, the cranberry industry finally received some good news amidst the ongoing trade war. The White House announced it reached a trade agreement with Mexico and Canada—the U.S. will suspend Section 232 Steel and Aluminum tariffs and in response, Mexico and Canada will suspend their retaliatory tariffs.

In response to the U.S. imposed steel and aluminum tariffs nearly one year ago, Canada imposed a 10% retaliatory tariff on U.S. juice cocktails (which included cranberry juice) and Mexico imposed a 20% retaliatory tariff on U.S. dried cranberries.  

While this is a step in the right direction for the cranberry industry, retaliatory tariffs are still being instituted by the European Union and China. Cranberries are nearly all grown in the U.S. and Canada and are easily substituted by other dried fruit, like raisins or prunes, from other countries.

For years, the cranberry industry has faced overproduction and in response, the U.S. has spent millions on establishing new, foreign cranberry markets. Currently, the largest U.S. cranberry export market is China, which recently announced it will be proceeding with a new round of increased tariffs beginning on June 1, 2019. The tariffs will increase cranberry concentrate tariffs from 10% to 15%, increase frozen cranberries tariffs from 55% to 70% and increase cranberry cocktail tariffs from 15% to 25%.