Feb 26, 2024

Sen. Cantwell praises post-tariff apple exports

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, recently highlighted a successful apple export season, following India’s decision to drop a 20% retaliatory tariff on U.S. apples.

Prakash Gupta, consul general of a new India Consulate in Seattle, joined Cantwell, apple growers, and labor and port officials at the Feb. 20 event.

“Apples are the pride of the Washington agricultural economy,” Cantwell said at the event, according to a news release. “They are known worldwide. Today is a celebration, because for five years now, we have not seen the volume of apples leaving these docks and traveling to India.”

Imposed in 2019, the tariffs caused the apple export market from Washington state to India to plunge. Before the tariffs were imposed, Washington growers exported $120 million worth of apples to India, and at the lowest point, growers exported less than $1 million.

With the tariffs dropped for the 2023-24 season, Washington growers have seen an immediate financial impact. According to the Washington State Apple Commission, Washington growers have shipped approximately 1.19 million 40-pound boxes of apples to India this season. So far, total apple sales from Washington to India are estimated to be about $19.5 million, and growers are only halfway through the shipping season.

By comparison, the 2022-23 season totals were just 73,000 40-pound boxes shipped and $1.3 million in sales.

In January 2023, Cantwell led a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo requesting an end to the tariffs. Cantwell also repeatedly met with Eric Garcetti, the U.S. ambassador to India, to discuss the tariff.

In February 2023, Cantwell raised the issue of tariffs with India Prime Minister Narenda Modi during a visit to India as part of a senatorial delegation.

Prior to Modi’s visit to the U.S. in June 2023, Cantwell and others requested President Joe Biden to negotiate an end to the tariffs. Sen. Cantwell spoke on the Senate floor a week later to announce the end of the India tariffs.