B.C. blueberry growers await looming U.S. trade decision on whether to proceed with tariffs
International Trade Commission to determine this week whether blueberry imports have harmed U.S. industry
Blueberry growers in British Columbia are eager to learn the outcome of a U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) decision this week on the question of whether American blueberry producers have been harmed by imports from countries like Canada.
Since September, the threat of tariffs or quotas on the majority of the province's blueberry exports has loomed. On Thursday, the USITC will vote to either proceed with determining what those will be, or determine there has not been harm from imported blueberries and the issue will go away.
On Monday, U.S. politicians and industry groups affirmed support for American blueberry growers in a news release that named two senators and five members of congress.
The statement includes a claim by the National Farmers Union that between 2015 and 2019, growers' operating returns fell by 32.4 per cent. The statement names Canada, along with Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina as countries responsible for the increased imports to the U.S.
But according to Anju Gill, the executive director for the B.C. Blueberry Council, that surge isn't coming from British Columbia, which grows about 95 per cent of Canada's highbush blueberries. There's a wild blueberry industry based in Eastern Canada.
Gill added that B.C. and the U.S. share a very close relationship when it comes to blueberries, with an even and reciprocal amount of berries crossing the border in both directions most years.
She said B.C. produces an average of about 73,000,000 kilograms of blueberries each year, about 70 per cent of which is exported. U.S. shipments make up about two-thirds of exports, according to Gill.
The USITC process is what's known as a Section 201 Global Safeguard investigation. Unlike World Trade Organization disputes, it's undertaken by an agency within the U.S. government and it doesn't look into conditions like subsidies that make international trade unfair — just whether a U.S. industry is suffering as a result of imports.
Gill said news of the investigation came as a surprise last fall, and it has kept her busy.
"It's a huge deal — it's resource-intensive. It's a very short investigation, and from my perspective, I have to be very involved and it moves very quickly," she said, adding that she made submissions and there was a hearing last month.
Following that hearing, Gill said she has no sense which way the commission is leaning, and she looks forward to the decision on Thursday — regardless of who it favours.
"Is it stressful? I mean, the business will go on. You know, if there are tariffs or quotas put on the Canadian industry, obviously that's not something that we're hoping for, but we just have to deal with it as it comes and move on."
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