Mexico looks to Europe after slapping tariffs on US pork
MEXICO CITY: Mexico will import more pork products from Europe after imposing a 20 per cent tariff on US pork legs and shoulders in retaliation to steel tariffs, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said.
About 90 per cent of Mexico’s US$1.07 billion annual imports of pork legs and shoulders come from US suppliers and the country expects to import more from elsewhere to avoid pushing prices higher for the cuts used to make hams and other processed meats.
After US President Donald Trump imposed steel and aluminium tariffs on its NAFTA trading partners, Mexico on Tuesday retaliated against pork, steel and products ranging from light fittings to bourbon.
The countermeasures could hurt farmers and industry in states that supported Trump in 2016 ahead of mid-term elections in November. Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures deferred trading months at one point fell more than 2 per cent following the Mexico pork tariff news.
At the same time as imposing the tariff on US pork, Mexico opened a 350,000-tonne quota for imports of the meat from other countries. Guajardo said that quota would cover demand for the rest of the year.
“It will surely come from Europe, from some European countries. The idea is to avoid an impact on the supply chain for processed meats so there is not an impact on the consumer,” he said at an event in Mexico City.
Bosco de la Vega, head of Mexico’s National Agricultural Council, the country’s main farming lobby, said Mexico had sanitary agreements for pork legs with 11 countries, and that Brazil, a major pork producer, was not on the list. — Reuters