Eye on Trump strongholds, Mexico hits back with pork, bourbon tariffs [View all]

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REUTERS David Alire Garcia, Miguel Gutierrez BUSINESS NEWS JUNE 5, 2018 / 6:35 AM / UPDATED 13 MINUTES AGO


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico put tariffs on American products ranging from steel to pork and bourbon on Tuesday, retaliating against import duties on metals imposed by President Donald Trump and taking aim at Republican strongholds ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November.

Mexico’s response further raises trade tensions between the two countries and adds a new complication to efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

American pork producers, for whom Mexico is the largest export market, were dismayed by the move.

“This is a gut punch to Virginia farmers, who exported more than $68 million in pork to Mexico last year. The President’s trade war is going to cost Virginia ag jobs,” U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a tweet.

The president of the U.S. National Pork Producers Council said Mexico accounted for nearly 25 percent of all pork shipments last year, adding that “a 20 percent tariff eliminates our ability to compete effectively in Mexico.”

“The toll on rural America from escalating trade disputes with critically important trade partners is mounting,” said Jim Heimerl, the council’s president and a pork producer from Johnstown, Ohio. “This is devastating to my family and pork producing families across the United States,” he said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-mexico/mexico-slaps-tariffs-on-u-s-steel-agricultural-products-idUSKCN1J11EV