Yakima, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited Gilbert Orchards, where she met with Owner Sean Gilbert, Orchard Manager Donny Schlect, Northwest Horticultural Council President Mark Powers, and Steve Smith, Vice President of Marketing for the Washington Fruit Growers, to hear about how President Trump’s trade war is affecting their businesses and the tree fruit industry in Washington state.
Gilbert Orchards is a family-owned growing operation that has been in the Yakima Valley for over 125 years, primarily growing apples, pears, and cherries. During the visit, Senator Murray toured the packing facility and heard concerns from Gilbert Orchards and other tree fruit growers about how an escalating trade war and the potential for steep retaliatory tariffs from other nations could hurt their bottom lines and be detrimental for farmers across Washington state. Washington’s tree fruit industry has historically borne the brunt of retaliatory measures for trade and tariffs.
“It was really important to me to hear from local tree fruit growers in Yakima today about how this administration’s trade war is affecting them, and how I can best advocate for them in the other Washington,” said Senator Murray. “Farmers thrive when they can sell their products domestically and internationally—but right now, President Trump is cutting off markets our farmers sell to while increasing their costs. We can help our farmers by opening up more markets for them to sell their products in—not shutting them down. I’ll continue working to end this senseless trade war and help farmers across Washington state succeed.”
“It was good to have Senator Murray visit us today. It’s important for our Members of Congress to understand that Washington state farmers rely on access to global markets and as much certainty around trade policy as possible,” said Northwest Horticultural Council President Mark Powers.
40 percent of jobs in Washington state are tied to international commerce. Washington state is the top U.S. producer of apples, blueberries, hops, pears, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries—all of which risk losing vital export markets if retaliatory tariffs from key trading partners including Canada take effect. Additionally, more than 12,000 small and medium-sized companies in Washington state export goods and will be unlikely to be able to absorb the impact of retaliatory tariffs. Trump’s tariffs during his first term were extremely costly for Washington state—for example, India imposed a 20 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. apples, causing Washington apple shipments to India to fall by 99 percent and growers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in exports.
###
