Posted on 03/23/2018 8:16:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
U.S. agriculture is bracing itself potentially costly tit-for-tat trade retaliation between the Washington and Beijing that could hit everything from American pork to wine.
"The producers of the commodities that are being targeted will probably feel the effects of it," said Larry Karp, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Berkeley. "And there's no reason to think that the Chinese will stop at this."
On Friday, China's Ministry of Commerce said $3 billion in U.S. goods could face new tariffs following the Trump administration's imposition of duties on imported steel and aluminum. Among the goods listed for retaliatory tariffs were several agricultural products, including pork, wine, nuts, fresh fruit and dried fruit.
Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to China represent about $20 billion annually for American farmers.
Food as weapon "It just seems like any time there are trade disputes, food is top of the list just because it's an emotional issue," said Larry Sailer, an Iowa farmer who produces pork, soybeans and corn. "I wish these countries wouldn't use that as a weapon, but that's basically what they are doing."
Still, Sailer said he "totally supports the administration we have right now," adding that trade issues with other countries such as China have been ignored for too long.
Earlier this week, an editorial in China's Global Times, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, made a case for targeting "subsidized U.S. soybeans," charging the commodity is "dumped on China." That said, the Chinese ministry's announcement Friday didn't identify soybeans.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Pork, wine and fruit are going to get a lot more expensive in China.
solution to the trade deficit is honest money
end the fed
Our trade deficit with the PRC was an all-time record high last year.
It was also higher in January, than last year.
China needs to BACK DOWN, and buy a bunch more from America. Or else we just need to shut them out of our market.
The current situation is a complete cluster-####. Way, way out of control.
The trade deficit needs to improve this year by AT LEAST $100,000,000. I think $200,000,000.
Everyone has been selling out America for the entire last generation and a half.
Stand up for America, Trump.
Cut your prices and I’ll do my part in making up any shortfall in pork, wine, and fruit sales.
Sure plenty more like me out there in the good ol’ USA.
At $5 a bottle, wine becomes an everyday indulgence — and I usually have to buy Australian shiraz, instead of California zinfandel.
Tomorrow’s headline:
“California Fruits and Nuts Hardest Hit.”
So good bacon will be getting cheaper for working folk too?
Great, I’ve felt the consumers were being screwed over on bacon prices for the last year.
TWB
“Pork, wine and fruit are going to get a lot more expensive in China.”
And a lot cheaper here in the US as all that stuff will have to be sold here. Out shelves will also not be filled with contaminated food from China.
Good the Chinese are buying up all the good wine. That’s why you can hardly find a cab that’s more than two years in the bottle. Sell it here in the US.
I agree, bacon prices are horrible.
Mainly it would hurt those corp hog farmers in Colorado but they were bought out by the Japanese so it will hurt Japan more that us and cheapen up pork for the rest of us.
In addition, since there isn't as much going to China, the freight is greatly reduced to get the containers there. If there is not product to ship to China, then the containers go empty.
But the freight coming this way ships at the market price for freight.
hefty?
Don’t know where you shop, but a ton of inexpensive wine is available for that price at many venues—and better than Australian wine.
Right now $10/lb for pecans because of demand from china. Outrageous. Somehow I think they’ll keep paying the price. I’m not worried.
Seems these tariffs are on products mostly bought by the richer Chinese- who won’t much care if the price goes up.
Nice chart BTW.
Not a single ounce of Chinese produce or meat other than exotics should take shelf space away from an American producer. The government permitting their swill on our shores should be considered treason.
back home I'm happy to pay $12 for the same.
The world will gang up on us. Then we can say “Screw you” when they need our military.
What are we doing buying that stuff from China anyway? We have it here.. whose idea was it to pay china and import?
When i was a kid, china goods were inferior.. way below our standards.. we made china a lot of money in their idea of free trade.
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