The U.S. pork trade to China is 'not viable' after Beijing imposed tariffs on imports of American pork amid the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, said Ken Sullivan, chief executive Smithfield Foods.
"Certainly in the short term here as this trade war has heated up, it’s made the trade with China very difficult - to even stopping at various points - because the tariff that’s been imposed makes it not viable to do that," Sullivan told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
China imposed import duties of 25% on pork and American-made pork products in April 2018, after the US imposed import duties on steel and aluminum. In July 2018, the Chinese authorities announced additional import duties on meat products from the United States. Import duties on American-made pork are now 62%. Pork shipments from the United States to China in 2017, before the start of the trade war, accounted for 17% of all American pork exports.
Based on Reuters.
