The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) is requesting that seeds for sowing be exempted from the proposed list of supplemental retaliatory tariffs on China.

“While we support the administration’s push for stronger intellectual property protection and enforcement globally, at the end of the day, the majority of these proposed tariffs will be levied on seeds owned by small and medium U.S.-based companies, not Chinese-owned corporations,” said ASTA President & CEO Andrew LaVigne. “For 2019, small and medium seed companies estimate tariff-related losses could range from $80,000 to $2,000,000 per company, depending on the company’s footprint in China. And the resulting cost will ultimately be felt by American farmers and consumers.”

The United States is the largest market for seed in the world, and the largest global seed exporter, and China is the second largest market for planting seeds after the U.S. ASTA has worked with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for over a decade and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the China National Seed Association (CNSA) with the ultimate goal of developing stronger intellectual property understanding and protection for plant breeders in China.