Normalizing trade may bear fruit for US apples

Chinese agricultural officials are close to allowing Washington state's Red and Golden Delicious apples back into China next month after a two-year ban. It is unclear whether that will also open up the US import of apples from China, which produces half the world's apples.

"The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and our counterparts in China are working closely toward normalizing trade in apples," Workabeba Yigzaw, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Agriculture, said in a statement.

"We look forward to enhancing our bilateral trade relationship and continuing our work toward this mutually beneficial goal with China," she said .