Mexico Will Impose 20 Percent Tariff on U.S. Pork

On Wednesday, Mexico stated that they will impose a twenty percent tariff on U.S. pork, which could result in U.S. pork farmers losing over a hundred million dollars annually. This sudden announcement comes a week after the Trump administration stated that they would increase their tariffs for aluminum and steel (ten and twenty-five percent respectively).

Mexico is the second biggest buyer of U.S. pork. According to government data, Mexico imported 650,000 metric tons of U.S. pork legs and shoulder last year. The new tariffs would not only affect the import of the country, but also its consumption of pork-related products, since prices will rise. There is a clear difference between U.S. and Mexican consumption of pork, since the former focuses more in bacon and ribs, and the latter imports primarily pork shoulders and legs.

This is another instance in the U.S. trade war with China and some of its allies, which has turned many farmers and producers against Trump.  While they are not completely against Trump’s purpose of balancing fair trade tariffs, they mostly disapprove of the “tariff-based” approach he has taken, which ends up hurting them. The president attempted to undermine the farmers’ concerns through a series of tweets. One of them stated: “Farmers have not been doing well for 15 years. Mexico, Canada, China and others have treated them unfairly. By the time I finish trade talks, that will change. Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer!” He also stated that, given the historic “bad trade deals” from the U.S, the country could only benefit from the tariffs.

These recent actions have led to mixed reactions from farmers, many of which were interviewed by news outlets on the subject. While most of them are concerned on how their revenue and income will change in these coming months, some of them have praised Trump for at least bringing the topic of trade forward and tackling it on a public way. Most of them still think that these tariffs, both from the U.S. and Mexico, will not bring profit to their businesses or help the countries’ relations.

Featured Image via: Flickr/Stephane Lorino