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UK-US pork trade and Trump's tariffs
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
The UK ships around 7,000 tonnes of pig meat to the US annually, making it the fourth largest destination for UK product. The vast majority of this is made up of loins, fore-ends and bellies.
Pig meat shipped from the UK to the US is a high value, premium product, often boasting outdoor bred, hormone free, and anti-biotic free status. The market value averages around £24 million.
Trump's tariffs
On 2 March 2025, US President Donald Trump, announced ‘reciprocal tariffs’ across a number of global trading partners, commencing 5 April 2025. The UK was hit with additional 10% tariffs on all exports to the US, meanwhile many other nations were served with higher rates, such as the EU at 20%, South Africa at 30%, and Vietnam at 46%.
However, on 9 April 2025, he announced a 90 day pause on the higher rate tariffs, introducing a universal minimum tariff rate of 10%, exclusive of China, where tariffs were further increased. There are some product exemptions from the tariffs, for example pharmaceuticals and microchips.
Impact
The UK does not have a preferential trade deal with the US, so until now UK exports have been subjected to the default ‘most favoured nation’ tariffs. For pig meat these tariffs are quite low, varying from no tariffs for carcases and half-carcases to 1.4 cents per kg for pork cuts and hams. With the recent changes, all product from the UK will have to incur additional +10% tariff rates. This will make UK exports more expensive to US buyers, which may lead to reduced shipments.
However, as outlined in the Prospects for agri-food report and recent US enforced laws such as proposition 12, there is good demand from US consumers for higher welfare products. Production systems in the UK differ significantly to the US and are well placed to meet these new welfare specifications and consumer preferences. Whilst a rising price for products from the UK is unhelpful, it is likely any drop in demand would be limited. If all of the increase is passed onto consumers, a 10% rise would be within the general fluctuations seen in commodity markets and exchange rates. Therefore, UK product should remain affordable to many of the, generally more affluent, consumers of higher welfare products.
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