This second was celebrated at a Seattle port on Tuesday.

Apple growers from Washington State have virtually one million bins of apples this yr to India, which is 16 occasions greater than final yr.

“This is a new day in trade relations between the United States and India,” Senator Maria Cantwell informed reporters in Seattle on Tuesday.

She was joined by Prakash Gupta, the Consul General of the newly opened India Consulate in Seattle, together with apple growers from Central Washington and labour and port officers.

“Apples are the pride of the Washington agricultural economy. They are known worldwide. Today is a celebration because, for five years now, we have not seen the volume of apples leaving these docks and travelling to India,” stated Cantwell, who was flanked by apple growers.

In retaliation for the then-Trump Administration’s resolution to revoke India’s commerce advantages below the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme in March 2019, New Delhi imposed a number of retaliatory tariffs on American merchandise, together with Apple.

This enhance in import tariff on apples by 20 per cent, brought about the apple export market from Washington state to India to plunge. Before the tariffs had been imposed, Washington growers exported USD 120 million value of apples to India and on the lowest level, growers exported lower than USD 1 million. This had an enormous monetary impression on apple growers from Washington State.

But enterprise is again to regular this harvest season after the retaliatory tariffs had been lifted in the course of the historic go to of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US.

Washington State Apple Commission stated Washington growers have shipped roughly 1,190,000 40 lb. bins of apples to India this season.

So far, whole apple gross sales from Washington to India are estimated to be about USD 19.5 million, and growers are solely midway by means of the transport season. By comparability, the 2022-23 season totals had been simply 73,000 40 lb. bins shipped and USD 1.3 million in gross sales.

“We are very committed to growing the Washington-India relationship in many fronts, in aviation, in technology, in healthcare, and especially in agriculture,” Cantwell said.

“When Prime Minister Modi addressed the United States Congress in his recent visit he said we’re going to increase trade with the United States. And then he said and these are the places and the first state he mentioned was Washington. I always like to point out it’s not because we were in alphabetical order. It’s because India believes that this new (Consulate) and with this new export cooperation, that it is a very unique relationship. We are going to put in a lot of effort to grow for the future,” she said.

Welcoming the opening of the new consulate in Seattle, the American Senator said that so many people in India could benefit from American apples.

“This will help us in Washington. It will help stabilise the growth that we have in the central part of the state. To have this market grow for the future gives our producers the ability to continue to do what they do best,” she said.

“So today is a celebration because for five years now we have not seen this volume of apples leaving these docks and travelling to India. This is a guarantee that they are going to reach their destination and have shelf space. As Todd mentioned, that means we want more shelf space. We want them to be a permanent part of the Indian economy and we want to grow the relationship,” Cantwell told reporters.