U.S.-China tariff dispute hits Oregon farm products

The tariff battle between the U.S. and China, which is poised to trigger a trade war between the two sides, will potentially impact farm products of Oregon on the U.S. west coast, an Oregon daily said Wednesday.

The tariff announced by China on Sunday will slap an extra 25 percent on U.S. products, which took effect on Monday.

China's move came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump administration's unilateral plan to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports of aluminum and steel announced last month.

In Oregon, the tariffs would apply to such agricultural products as hazelnuts, pears, berries, apples and wine, said The Register-Guard, a daily newspaper formed in 1930 and published in Eugene, Oregon in the western United States.

"Our assumption is there will be some effect," it quoted Alexis Taylor, director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, as saying.

The paper said China is Oregon's fourth-largest importer of agriculture products, behind South Korea, Canada and Japan.

"In 2017, Oregon sent more than 320 million U.S. dollars in agricultural products to China, including Hong Kong," said the paper, quoting the data of Euromonitor, a global market research company.

According to the state's agriculture department, Oregon leads the nation in hazelnut production, accounting for nearly 100 percent of U.S. output, and about 60 percent of Oregon's crop is exported, with Asian and European nations buying much of the harvest.

China said it would impose a 15 percent tariff on hazelnuts, also called filberts, along with several other U.S. farm products on Sunday.