From marmalade to strawberry jam, the US is targeting Chinese exports of little substance
Avoiding big-ticket exports such as mobile phones or video games, more than half of the Trump administration’s latest targets for tariffs are Chinese products that accounted for less than US$1 million in exports last year
Orange marmalade, the favourite of Paddington Bear and a staple on many breakfast tables, has become an unusual victim in the trade war between the US and China, the two largest economies on Earth.
It sits near the bottom of a list of 5,000 types of Chinese imports that US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to subject to 10 per cent in duties later this year. The administration previously designated more than 1,000 Chinese imports for 25 per cent levies earlier in the year.
China is one of the biggest global exporters of fruits, and also the world’s factory – responsible for making products of all sizes and descriptions for consumers around the globe – but the nation’s orchards are hardly giants when it comes to preserves.
Chinese orange marmalade products to America fell by half to US$12,330 last year, down from US$25,070. Its exports amounted to less than 0.3 per cent of the US$4.2 million of imported spread of that particular flavour in 2017, according to the US International Trade Commission’s data.
France was the origin of a third of all imported orange marmalade in the US last year, nearly US$1.4 million. Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom combined for another US$1.8 million.
Still, Trump’s planned tariffs would extend to other flavours of imported breakfast spreads from China – pineapple, cherry, currant and strawberry jams – none of which features China anywhere near the top 15 sources to the US.