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Trump's tariffs on Airbus extend to dried cherries, potentially boosting Michigan's industry

Airbus

The Trump Administration announced they will put $7.5 billion worth of tariffs on goods flown into the U.S. on flights from Airbus. That will include several tart cherry products from Austria, Germany and Hungary. 

Products like tart cherry juice and frozen tart cherries from those countries will now have a 25 percent tariff, according to the World Trade Organization.

Credit World Trade Organization
A list of European products that will now have a 25 percent tariff.

On Twitter, President Donald Trump called the tariffs a "nice victory."

Director of the Cherry Industry Administrative Board Mollie Woods says cherry farmers in Michigan celebrated the news, as they have been undercut by cheaper foreign imports for years.

"Some of the biggest competitors we have are in the European Union," says Woods. 

Nels Veliquette with Shorline Fruit says the new tariffs are good news, but the cherry industry doesn't get much federal help on international trade disputes.

"These things are being pushed forward by a very small group of people," Veliquette said. "We don't have a lobby like the steel lobby."

Veliquette says they still don't know how long the tariffs will last. They take effect on Oct. 18. 

Michigan tart cherry farmers have faced stiff foreign competition for years, especially from the country of Turkey. The Dried Tart Cherry Trade Commission recently won a years long legal battle to get tariffs placed on Turkish tart cherry products. 

 
 

Max came to IPR in 2017 as an environmental intern. In 2018, he returned to the station as a reporter and quickly took on leadership roles as Interim News Director and eventually Assignment Editor. Before joining IPR, Max worked as a news director and reporter at Michigan State University's student radio station WDBM. In 2018, he reported on a Title IX dispute with MSU in his story "Prompt, Thorough and Impartial." His work has also been heard on Michigan Radio, WDBM and WKAR in East Lansing and NPR.