Update: On Tuesday, April 17, China announced a new 179% charge on sorghum, a grain used for livestock feed and in alcoholic drinks. The charge is set to go into effect Wednesday, April 18. China is the largest buyer of U.S. sorghum.
As the United States and China continue to escalate toward a possible trade war, the food and beverage industry is bracing for what could be a significant hit.
China has announced tariffs on more than 230 U.S. products already. Here’s the full list of food and beverage products that are, or will be, subject to new taxes.
Tariffs enacted
The first list, announced a few weeks ago and enacted on April 2, mainly applies to pork products, fruits and nuts, and wine.
25% tariff
- Fresh or cold boned pig forelegs, hindquarters, and their meat
- Other fresh or cold pork
- Other frozen whole head and half pork
- Frozen bone forelegs, pigs’ legs, and their meat
- Other frozen pork
- Frozen pork liver
- Other frozen pork chops
15% tariff
- Dried coconut, coconut without inner shell, other coconut
- Unhulled Brazilian nuts, shelled Brazilian nuts
- Unshelled cashews, shelled cashews
- Unshelled almonds, shelled almonds
- Hazelnuts, unshelled hazelnuts
- Unshelled walnuts, walnut kernels
- Unhealed chestnut, other shelled chestnuts
- Unhulled pistachio fruit, hulled pistachio nut
- Other unhealed macadamia nuts, roasted macadamia nuts
- Betel nut fruit
- Pine nuts
- Other fresh or dried nuts
- Fresh or dried plantain, other fresh or dried bananas
- Fresh or dried dates, figs, pineapple, avocados, guava, mango, mangosteen, orange
- Other citrus (including mandarin and satsuma oranges)
- Clementine orange
- Virgin orange and similar hybrid citrus
- Grapefruit, including pomelo
- Lemons and limes
- Unlisted citrus fruit
- Fresh grapes
- Raisins
- Fresh watermelon
- Fresh cantaloupe
- Papaya
- Fresh apples, dried apples
- Fresh pears
- Fresh sour cherries
- Other fresh cherries
- Peaches, including nectarines
- Fresh plum and promos
- Fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, Logan berries, cranberries, and cowberries
- Frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, rose hips, currant and gooseberries
- Kiwi
- Fresh durian
- Persimmon, dried persimmons
- Fresh lychee, fresh sweet lychee
- Fresh longan, dried longan and meat
- Rumbatan
- Fresh carambola
- Fresh lotus fog
- Fresh pitaya
- Fruits not listed
- Frozen fruits and nuts, not listed
- Other temporarily preserved fruits and nut
- Fried apricots
- Mei Qiang and Li Gan
- Red dates
- Dried litchi
- Dried fruits not listed
- Assorted nuts or dried fruits
- Sparkling wine
- Other fresh brewed wines packing containers of 2-liters or less brewed with alcohol
- Wines brewed with other fresh grapes packed in 2-liter containers, but not more than 10 liters
- Wines made from other fresh grapes packed in containers of 10 liters or more
- Other items from grape juice wine
- Modified Ethanol and other alcohols of any concentration
- American ginseng, other fresh ginseng, unlisted ginseng
Tariffs announced but not enacted
The enforcement date for the second list, announced April 4, hasn’t been set yet. It primarily targets vehicles and chemicals, but adds several food items as well.
- Yellow and black soybeans
- Corn and cornflour
- Sorghum
- Brewing or distilling dregs and waste
- Other durum wheat, other wheat and mixed wheat
- Whole and half head fresh and cold beef
- Fresh and cold beef with bones, fresh and cold boneless beef
- Frozen beef with bones, frozen boneless beef, frozen boneless meat, other frozen beef chops
- Dried cranberries
- Frozen orange juice, non-frozen orange juice
- Whiskies
We’ll update this list as more information becomes available.
