The re-emergence of trade war fears has sent tremors across the Wall Street. This is because China has targeted about $3 billion in American exports in retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariff on steel and aluminum import.
The second-largest country has slapped a duty on 128 American food products effective Apr 2. Of these, 120 products, including dried fruits, sparkling wine, and stainless steel pipes, saw a new tariff of 15% while eight commodities, including pork products and aluminum scrap, saw a 25% tax hike. The new tariffs went into effect on Apr 2.
The move would hurt several American food producers and exporters. In particular, farmers and the pork industry have been on the forefront of damage, as American farmers shipped nearly $20 billion of goods to China in 2017. China is the third-largest consumer of U.S. pork and bought about $1.1 billion worth of pork products from the United States last year, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
The tariff would also severely impact the apple and wine industry. Washington growers exported nearly 1.8 million 40-pound boxes of apples to mainland China last year and another million to Hong Kong, according to data from the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. Meanwhile, China is one of the fastest growing wine markets in the world and is the sixth-biggest wine importer following France, Australia, Chile, Spain, and Italy. U.S. wine exports to greater China (including the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong) were up 10% last year to $197 million. Notably, the value of U.S. wine exports (97% from California) to China has increased 450% in the past decade.
Per money.cnn.com, China makes up for 6% of American fruit exports, 5% of wine exports, 3% of nuts exports and 40% of all ginseng exports.
Given this, we have highlighted several ETFs and stocks that are likely to be hit hard and are in focus in the weeks ahead:
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN – Free Report)
Tyson Foods is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork, the second-largest food company in the Fortune 500 and a member of the S&P 500. Shares of TSN dropped as much as 6.1%, the most in nearly 18 months, following the China retaliation. Tyson Foods currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a VGM Score of B.
