U.S. peanut industry likes retaliatory tariff suspension

The American Peanut Council was pleased Dec. 19 with the announcement by the European Union to further suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. peanut butter until March 31, 2025. The 25% tariff on imports of U.S. peanut butter was set to be reimposed at the end of this month, on December 31. “This is welcome news to the peanut industry and all those working in the supply chain to produce peanut butter for overseas markets,” said APC President and CEO Richard Owen. “But we still have a long way to go to recoup our losses of more than $20 million due to a tariff war we didn’t begin, yet all the same are feeling its deep impact.” The EU’s retaliatory tariffs were in response to 2018 U.S. tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. As a result of the retaliatory tariffs, U.S. exports of peanut butter and other prepared peanuts exported under harmonized tariff code 2008.11 dropped from a high of nearly $22 million in 2017 to $1.4 million in 2020. In 2021, the United States and the EU agreed ...