November 2011 NHC NEWS A Monthly Bulletin of the Northwest Horticultural Council Trade Policy During the month of October, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law trade agreements with Colombia, Korea, and Panama; and, Mexico suspended all of its retaliatory tariffs imposed under the cross-border trucking dispute with the U.S.  All of these actions are positive trade policy developments long sought by the Northwest Horticultural Council.  The combined tariff rate reductions resulting from these political decisions are worth tens of millions of dollars to Pacific Northwest tree fruit growers and shippers. Mexico’s 20% cross-border trucking retaliatory tariff on pears, cherries and apricots was in place since March of 2009, with the same tariff applied to apples in August of 2010.  Initial relief was obtained this past July when the tariffs were reduced to 10%.  Now another multiyear process will unfold as a new pilot trucking program takes effect.  Over the next three years, it will be determined if the U.S. will allow Mexican trucks to permanently operate in the U.S.  If the ultimate answer is yes, Mexico will then remove the continued threat of once again imposing retaliatory tariffs. For cherry growers the trade agreement with Korea is cause for celebration as that country’s 24% tariff will drop to zero as soon as the agreement is implemented, hopefully prior to the 2012 season.  Sales of cherries to Korea were valued at over $15 million in 2011 and expected to grow considerably in years ahead.  For those involved in exporting apples and pears the trade agreement with Colombia will increase their competitive position against Chile by eliminating the 15% tariff that importers of U.S. fruit now must pay in that country.  Fruit imported from Chile enters Colombia duty free.  With no major trade policy legislation currently before congress and the presidential election cycle already in full swing, there are few foreseeable additional market expansion developments on the horizon for 2012. ♦ USTR The Office of the United States Trade Representative is our country’s lead agency for coordinating and advancing our nation’s trade policy objectives.  The leader of this small agency, now Ambassador Ron Kirk, serves in the president’s cabinet. USTR’s functional work is split between several internal offices, such as for South & Central Asian Affairs and African Affairs.  Agriculture has its own office led by Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, who visited the Yakima Valley’s tree fruit industry in mid-October.  A key aide to Ambassador Siddiqui is Sharon Bomer Lauritsen, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy. Both agricultural trade officials are long standing friends of the Northwest Horticultural Council’s, with their prior careers often intersecting with the work of our organization.  For example, many years ago the then named Sharon Bomer worked on the policy staff of the then named United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association (now the United Fresh Produce Association.) The NHC also has formal ties to USTR through Christian Schlect’s re-appointment last month to the USDA/USTR Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC) ¨ Travel Chris Schlect November 7 - Speaker at meeting of the Wenatchee Valley Traffic Association, Wenatchee, Washington. November 8-10 – Meeting at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, Maryland. November 16-18 – Strategic planning meeting of the Alliance for Food & Farming, Monterey, California. Mark Powers November 14-17 – U.S. Agricultural Export Development Council’s Annual Workshop, Baltimore, Maryland. November 21 – Washington Council on International Trade’s Washington Trade Conference, Seattle, Washington. Mike Willett October 30-November 6 – U.S./China Plant Health Technical Bilateral, Nanning, China. Deborah Carter November 7-11 – 2011 Safe Quality Food (SQF) International Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. So we three went down the new road, a few apples still in the orchard, out by the lower gate, and a mile or so along the roads of the Sussex Weald; a fine day, though with some mist, and the half-bare copses and hedges still rich with their tarnished-gold russet. November 13, 1885 William Allingham: A Diary Northwest Horticultural Council 105 South 18th Street, Suite 105 Yakima, Washington 98901, USA Voice: (509) 453-3193, Fax: (509) 457-7615 E-mail general@nwhort.org