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Chinese tariffs hurting pork export opportunity

A leading swine legal counsel says trade tensions between the U.S. and China are limiting U.S. pork exports at a time of increased opportunity.

National Pork Producers Council Vice President of Global Government Affairs, Nick Giordano, tells Brownfield the conflict is putting U.S. pork producers at a disadvantage.

“Pork from most of the world goes into China at eight percent, we go in at 33 percent,” Giordano said.

Giordano said China’s continued issues with African Swine Fever are providing an opportunity for increased pork trade.

“China is not going to make the U.S. the preferred supplier of anything, right,” he said. “But, I think if the geo-political heat gets turned down [and] the tariffs start coming off, we’re going to have more opportunity in China and that’s a positive thing.”

He said lowering China’s tariff on U.S. pork is a priority for NPPC.

Brownfield interviewed Giordano at the 2021 National Associations of Farm Broadcasting convention.