As Chinese officials are in Washington, D.C. this week for trade negotiations, the National Pork Producers Council is urging the two countries to resolve their differences quickly. A Farm Journal’s Ag Web Dot Com article says the NPPC is also asking China to purchase a minimum of $3.5 billion in pork products over the next five years.

China is the world’s number one pork consumer. That fact has made it a top destination for U.S. pork exports for the last several years. In 2017, the U.S. pork industry shipped $1.1 billion worth of product there, which made it number three on the list of the top pork export destinations. Industry experts say pork represents approximately 15 percent of China’s Consumer Price Index and could almost singlehandedly make a large dent in the U.S.-China trade imbalance.

NPPC President Jim Heimerl says China has been a “tremendous market” for U.S. pork. “Without numerous trade barriers, they would likely be our number one export market,” Heimerl says. “Even without the preexisting barriers on U.S. pork, the 50-percent punitive tariffs have slowed our exports to a trickle.” U.S. pork producers now face tariffs of 62 percent on exports to China. An Iowa State University report says producers have lost $8 per hog, or more than $1 billion on an annualized basis, because of the 50 percent punitive tariffs.