YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington apple growers expect they will take an estimated $44 million hit this year from a new Mexican tariff. The trade dispute has already hurt cherry and pear growers.
The 20 percent tariff took effect Thursday and affects all U.S. fresh apple sales to this state’s largest export market.
State apple marketers have sold almost 10 million boxes of apples to Mexico during the current 2009-10 marketing season. That’s a slight decline from the same period a year earlier when the state harvested its largest crop to date.
The tariff takes effect as Washington state is preparing to harvest what could be a record crop.
