California’s pistachio farmers will be thankful for US-China tariff relief

On Monday, the US and China released a joint statement announcing a 90-day pause in the nations’ ongoing trade war, including China reducing its retaliatory tariffs on US goods from 125% to 10%.

The news saw several sectors — including big tech, retail, and travel — breathe a sigh of relief... but perhaps none more so than America’s booming pistachio industry, where shipments to China comprised almost a third of its $3 billion crop exports in 2024.

As reported by the WSJ on Tuesday, Chinese consumers are going nuts for American pistachios, owing to their associations with health and fortune (they’re often referred to as the “happy nut” in Chinese culture). Indeed, the value of US pistachios shipped to China soared to ~$842 million last year, per federal data — almost 25x the amount recorded a decade earlier.

And it’s California — which made up almost all of America’s 503,000-metric-ton pistachio production last season and is the biggest producer of the green nuts worldwide — that will be feeling the recent relief from, as well as the looming threat of, Chinese tariffs most strongly.

Challenged by water scarcity, farmers in the Golden State have turned to the hardy crop for its drought tolerance and high value in recent years. In fact, pistachio acreage in the state has increased almost five-fold since 2005.