Washington's tariff-cutting deal that revived the flow of apples to India was a promising start to an era of trade expansion. Congressional leaders in Washington should seize this momentum and persistently pursue further opportunities to open foreign markets for domestic products.
Washington's agricultural products, especially Red Delicious apples, have long found customers in the Indian market. In India, the third-largest importer of fruit from Washington, apples alone were a roughly $120 million business. But when President Donald Trump raised steel and aluminum tariffs in 2019, India retaliated, tantamount to imposing 20% tariffs on Washington's apples. Millions of dollars of business seem to have disappeared overnight. It was bad news for the country's top apple-growing regions, from the Okanagan to the Yakima Valley.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, who has long advocated for opening overseas markets for Washington products, took up the cause. She visited India in February 2023 and in a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the harm of her country's tariffs on the farmers of her home country. A few months later, the prime minister joined President Joe Biden on a state visit to the White House and lifted tariffs on American food.
Since then, India has imported nearly 1 million 40-pound boxes of Washington apples, 16 times more than all of last season, leaving plenty of time for this year's harvest. Other state crops such as chickpeas and lentils are once again boarding containers in the world's most populous nation in far greater numbers.
This success coincides with the opening of the Indian Consulate General in Seattle, strengthening ties with the state where Indians constitute the second largest immigrant group.
The U.S. government's expansion of apple exports also serves as a reminder of the importance of the upcoming presidential election and of President Trump's pernicious obsession with the barriers he has actually succeeded in building: raising tariffs on other countries. The former president has stated his desire to impose a 10% tax on all imported goods if he wins this fall.7 Another term for President Trump would mean a return to past trade wars, where tariff retaliation between nations drove up prices and shut Washington apples out of lucrative export markets.
Let's move beyond the victory of reducing India's tariffs. Washington's Congressional delegation should push hard to get more of our state's products on shelves in countries around the world.