New Delhi: The Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers Union has urgently appealed to the Indian government to impose a 100% duty on imported U.S. apples and reject reciprocal tariff negotiations with Washington, warning that a planned U.S. tariff reduction could devastate domestic growers in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
The plea comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a reciprocal tariff policy set to take effect on April 2, 2025, which would slash import duties on Washington apples, potentially flooding Indian markets with cheaper imports and crippling local livelihoods.
In a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Agriculture Minister and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, emailed to Ziraat Times, the Union highlighted that over 700,000 families across three states rely on apple cultivation as the “backbone” of regional economies. They argue that the influx of foreign apples, compounded by existing challenges such as climate disasters and economic instability, threatens to erase market space for homegrown produce and inflict massive revenue losses on state treasuries.
The horticulture sector in J&K is contributing significantly to India’s status as one of the world’s top apple producers, has already faced severe setbacks from years of political turmoil, the devastating 2014 floods, and recurrent hailstorms. The Union warned that Trump’s tariff cuts would exacerbate these struggles, risking “mental agony” for small-scale farmers and dealers.
Chairman Bashir Ahmad Basheer emphasized that reciprocal tariffs would disproportionately harm local growers, urging New Delhi to prioritize protective measures over trade concessions. The Union’s appeal underscores broader tensions in global agricultural trade and the vulnerability of India’s agrarian communities to international policy shifts.
