Pork producers concerned over tariff threats
U.S. pork producers are concerned about their business as they face retaliatory tariffs in two of their largest markets--Mexico and China.
"We're in a very uncertain period, and uncertainty is not good for investment," Jim Monroe, of the National Pork Producers Council told KCCI's Hannah Hilyard this week at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa.
Mexico, a $1.5 billion export market for U.S. pork producers, said it would impose the tariffs in response to the United States decision not to exclude the country from the Trump administration's proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. China, the third largest export market for pork, hiked tariffs on imported products to 25 percent in April as part of its response to U.S. actions on trade.
Not all farmers, however, object to the way the administration is handling commercial business policy overseas.
Neil Rhonemus, with Lynchburg, Ohio-based Rhonemus Family Farms, said he is in favor of President Donald Trump's tough trade talks.
"It's very important, I think, that we do something and not let these countries get away with some of the practices they have in the past," Rhonemus said in an interview with KCCI.
As for now, he plans to weather the storm.
"That's what farmers do," Rhonemus said. "We hang tough and survive."
--CBS News' Jillian Harding and Jon Berr contributed to this report