MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will impose a 20 percent tariff on U.S. pork imports, two industry officials with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Monday, for the first time providing details of the country’s retaliatory measures to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Last week, Mexico said the retaliatory tariffs would apply to pork legs and shoulders from U.S. suppliers, which account for about 90 percent of the country’s $1.07 billion annual imports of the cuts.
“It’s a 20 percent (tariff) on legs and shoulders, fresh and frozen ... with bones and without bones,” said Heriberto Hernandez, president of Mexico’s leading pork producers association OPORPA, following a briefing earlier on Monday with Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and his team.
The government has not yet given details of the level of the tariff and did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the tariff or the meeting.
Hernandez said he supported the Mexican government’s decision and does not expect it to cause pork prices in Mexico to rise because “there are many alternatives” to U.S. suppliers.
The tariff was in response to the Trump administration’s decision last week to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican exporters on grounds that countries including Mexico engage in competition damaging to U.S. national security.
The U.S. decision to go ahead with the steel and aluminum tariffs has complicated talks with Mexico and Canada to rework the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Other industry officials pointed to Canada as a possible substitute pork supplier that has tariff-free access to
