Chinese Tariffs Take Root in American Ginseng

A U.S.-China trade war threatens Wisconsin farmers who grow a product that is popular in China but rarely consumed by Americans: ginseng.

Effective April 2, the U.S.-grown root was slapped with a 15 percent tariff that Beijing imposed on U.S. agricultural commodities, part of the tit-for-tat exchange of escalating tariffs that together potentially cover at least $200 billion in goods. That levy threatens to price American ginseng out of Chinese markets altogether.

Ginseng from Wisconsin contributes about 10 percent of the world’s supply, more than 85 percent of which is exported to China. The Badger State is the home state of Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a longtime critic of China’s trade practices who has nevertheless opposed President Trump’s tariffs, warning of their “unintended consequences.”

Chinese distributors have warned that they may shift their purchasing to Canadian ginseng, said Jackie Fett, executive director of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin.

American ginseng, like Japanese wasabi, is a notoriously temperamental root, thriving in just a handful of places around the world—central Canada, northeastern China and the slice of Midwestern plains centered on Wisconsin’s Marathon County.

The ginseng trade accounts for an estimated 1,000-plus U.S. jobs.

Source: Wall Street Journal