President Donald Trump is threatening to put tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States, and Friday the European Union released a list of products it says it will tax in retaliation—including Orange Juice. The most recent Florida orange crop estimate is only more bad news to an industry already on the brink. The state will only get about 45 million boxes of oranges, down more 80 percent from peak production decades ago. Speaking to reporters recently, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said the industry is "severely wounded".
“I wouldn’t say the citrus industry is dead at all, but it’s been severely wounded by the effects of citrus greening disease and hurricane Irma," he said.
A greening disease has killed off millions of trees and back-to-back hurricanes destroyed more. Putnam says growers are hopeful for a better crop next year, but now the industry is facing a new threat: tariffs, or import taxes, that could be imposed on Florida-made orange juice.
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