WPBN Traverse City: U.S. International Trade Commission to continue to investigate cherry imports

GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Northern Michigan cherry growers say their businesses are in danger because of cherries being imported from other companies that are undercutting the market.

Growers had previously filed a lawsuit, and this week they got a big win.

The US International Trade Commission has decided to keep investigating claims that dried tart cherry imports from places like Turkey are hurting the U.S. market.

"We need to preserve the markets here that we've used our marketing dollars to build," said Nells Veliquette of Cherries R Us and Cherry KE Inc. "We missed the opportunity on tart cherry juice and tart cherry concentrate and we didn't want to miss this opportunity with tart cherries."

The decision comes after Michigan cherry growers filed a lawsuit against those importing dried tart cherries at a lower cost than the cost of production.

"It was a unanimous decision to move this forward which means that the commerce department thinks that we have something that's not being fair right now," said Don Gregory, owner of Cherry Bay Orchards.

It is not just the growers that expressed satisfaction, but lawmakers as well.

U.S. Senator Gary Peters said, "This unanimous decision is an important step towards holding bad actors accountable and leveling the playing field."

Veliquette says Turkey is the biggest threat and now growers are expecting tariffs to be put on dried cherry imports coming from there.

"The next steps will be an actual determination of a preliminary tariff that can be assessed against the imports," explained Veliquette. "That's gonna take a few more months but again the unanimous decision yesterday goes a long way toward showing just how open and shut our case is on these imports"

Growers hope the tariffs will help curb the oversupply of dried tart cherries and they are also hopeful for some support from customers.

"I would ask it from our consumers. When they decide to choose cherries, that they choose products that include U.S. grown fruit," said Veliquette.

Northern Michigan growers say tariffs may not solve all of their problems, but they could help them stay in the industry.