An Iowa pork producer says the ebb and flow of tariffs has introduced major uncertainty into his sector.
“The goal posts keep getting moved,” said Aaron Juergens.
Juergens, who is president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, attended the Manitoba Pork Council’s annual general meeting in Winnipeg on April 10. He said his sector has recently come through a few years of negative margins and has hoped for profitability.
“We all want certainty in the markets,” he said. “That’s what we strive for.”
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“There’s opportunity to hedge in things, but there’s just so much movement based on news.”
Juergens told producers at the meeting that the Iowa Pork Producers want as free trade as possible in North America.
Canadian government data shows Iowa imported $10 million in live pigs from Canada in 2024.
At time of writing, live pigs could be shipped into the U.S. without tariffs provided they comply with CUSMA country-of-origin rules. The vast majority do comply, or can quickly come into compliance, said Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl.
Canada has not placed counter-tariffs on U.S. pork.
Juergens told meeting attendees that the Iowa Pork Producers want as free trade as possible in North America.
Volatile building prices
However, tariffs on other goods have added volatility that Juergens said reminded him of the COVID-19 pandemic. While pricing out a barn remodel, contractors were setting 24-hour deadlines to lock in quotes because prices kept changing.
“That’s not a fun environment to operate in, you know, where prices move that much,” Juergens said.
That said, the coffee shop talk has not been wrapped up in tariffs, Juergens said. Rather, increases in property taxes for both farmers and homeowners have been the hot topic of conversation.
U.S pork group lobbies for tariff exemption
Earlier this spring, the U.S. National Pork Producers Council (NCCP) said it had written to Canada’s department of finance to ask it to keep American pork from its list of retaliatory tariffs.
The council noted that “tit-for-tat tariff exchanges” will disrupt the supply chains built over decades between Canada and the U.S.
“We request that Canada seeks to preserve the benefits of the integrated North American market to the maximum extent practicable, including by excluding U.S. pork imports from retaliation,” the council said.
Dahl told Glacier FarmMedia in early March that he agreed with the NPPC.
“I prefer not to have tariffs on U.S. pork coming into Canada,” he said. “Everybody benefits from the integrated North American market. Producers in Canada benefit, producers in the U.S. benefit and consumers on both sides of the border benefit.”