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Turkey subject to immediate tariffs after U.S. cherry industry suit

The cherry industry is celebrating a major victory after the International Trade Commission made a preliminary determination that Turkey is dumping dried tart cherries into the U.S. market.

Phil Korson with the Cherry Marketing Institute tells Brownfield preliminary dumping and countervailing charges have immediately been placed on Turkey.

“Two tariffs were put in place.  One at about 200 percent and the other one at about 600 percent.  They’re cumulative together so, in the case of dried cherries, it will be about an 800 percent dumping charge.”     

He says those tariffs will be placed on importers of Turkey’s dried cherries and should have an immediate positive impact on the U.S. market.

“We’re in a situation this year where we had high costs and, then because of the trade issue, low prices.  The two in tandem are really, really difficult.”

Korson says the industry is also very closely watching if Turkey ships through other countries to get around the tariffs to make sure they play by the rules.

Turkey had been exporting dried cherries four times less than the U.S. wholesale price.