California Today: Caught in the Cross Hairs, Farmers Brace for a Trade War

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/california-today-farmers-trade-war.html

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Farmers across California’s agriculture industry are worried over the escalating trade conflict between the United States and China, with steep new tariffs specifically targeting some of the state’s most lucrative exports.

The Chinese finance ministry announced over the weekend that it would impose tariffs on more than 100 American products, including many of California’s staples like wine and pistachios, in retaliation against tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum by President Trump.

“We have heard a lot of concerns from our wine grape growers and our pistachio and almond growers. Those markets are definitely going to take the largest hit,” Sara Neagu-Reed, of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said. “Putting us in the middle of this issue is just not fair for our farmers.”

That could mean trouble for the state’s farmers in the Central Valley and elsewhere. China is California’s third most valuable destination for agriculture products, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation, just behind the European Union and Canada. The state’s exports to China totaled more than $2 billion in 2016. Three products alone, all facing tariffs, accounted for most of those exports: $530 million in pistachios, $518 million in almonds and $161 million in wine.

The tariffs add another layer of uncertainty for growers in California, and in particular those in the wine industry, which already faces growing production costs. The full impact of the tariffs is not yet clear, but experts are warning of significant decreases in exports of those products. Fluctuating prices in steel could also affect the price of farm equipment.

John Aguirre, the president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, said that the trade war with China threatened to derail long-running efforts by winemakers to expand into the Chinese market. That could carry repercussions well into the future.

“We not only face the prospect of short term harm to wine grape prices, but really missing out on the longer term opportunity,” he said. “Once you lose market share, other countries have filled that void and it’s very difficult to reclaim lost ground.”

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

• A woman opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in California, shooting three people before killing herself. [The New York Times]

• As Mr. Trump leads a “war” on California, who will be Gov. Jerry Brown’s successor? [The New York Times]

• Cabernet isn’t the most obvious pawn in a trade war between the United States and China — but for California, it’s a highly personal one. [The New York Times]

• A federal judge on Tuesday threatened to prohibit cities in Orange County from enforcing anti-camping laws — which target homeless people — if the county cannot find a solution to its homeless stalemate. [The Los Angeles Times]

• Amid continued outrage over Stephon Clark’s death, a bill introduced in the State Assembly would significantly restrict when officers can use deadly force. [The Associated Press]

• Speakers at a Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday gave passionate testimony about the black community’s grief after Mr. Clark’s shooting. [The Sacramento Bee]

• Governor Brown has ordered state agencies to track harassment and discrimination complaints. [The Associated Press]

• San Francisco has joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to add a question about U.S. citizenship to the 2020 census. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• Republicans are eager to seize the backlash against so-called sanctuary laws in conservative pockets of SoCal. [Politico]

• Travis Allen, the Republican candidate for governor, floated the idea of building state-run institutions to hold the homeless. [The Sacramento Bee]

• The frantic effort to locate a teenage boy after he fell into sewage pipes in Los Angeles spanned 6,400 feet of pipe. “This young man rose like Jesus,” said Bryant Jones, a city sanitation manager. [The Los Angeles Times]

• Los Angeles’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood is a prime target for investors, but it is squeezing out residents who have lived in the community for decades. [The Los Angeles Times]

• A spring storm is expected to hit California later this week, potentially showering the Bay Area and Sacramento. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• For legal pot shops, paying taxes can be both time consuming and dangerous. [The Sacramento Bee]

• The push for universal health care in California has pitted pragmatists against idealists. [Politico]

• Colleges in California are dealing with a growing number of homeless students. [CalMatters]

Hundreds of Angelenos gathered Saturday at the Kenneth Hahn Park in Los Angeles to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose contributions to American life are being remembered today across the country on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

Community members marched to the highest point of park, where a tree grove has been dedicated in Dr. King’s honor. They played music, banged on drums and waved portraits of Dr. King as they walked in procession.

The ribbon cutting ceremony officially opened the space. The event featured remarks by the Rev. James Lawson Jr., one of Dr. King’s peers during the civil rights movement, and other L.A. community leaders instrumental in finishing the project. “This is our way of paying tribute to America’s most prominent drum major for peace,” Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor, told CBS News.

A stone obelisk bearing Dr. King’s likeness marks the spot. Inscribed on the statue are excerpts from Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” address: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.