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Minnesota Pork CEO calls for resolution to trade disputes

Farm groups continue to call for resolution on trade disputes.

David Preisler, CEO of the Minnesota Pork Producers, tells Brownfield American pig farmers have been hit hard by retaliatory tariffs from China and Mexico.

“Now we’re faced with increasing tariffs from Mexico (starting today), which will bring the tariff from 10 percent up to 20 percent.  Those are things we just can’t afford as we go forward.”

He says the last half of 2018 was probably going to be a challenge for pork producers even without the trade disruptions.

“Seasonally, hog prices tend to get an awful lot softer into the fall, and as we move into a more tenuous position on tariffs, it just makes (hog production) that much more expensive.”

The Minnesota Trade Office recently released a report detailing the potential impact of retaliation to President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.  The report says counter-tariffs by China and Mexico alone could cost the state’s pork industry nearly $100 million dollars.