Smithfield Foods says tariffs make China unviable market for its US pork

China, the world’s biggest pork consumer, is no longer a viable market for top U.S. pork processor Smithfield Foods due to retaliatory tariffs by Beijing, company executives said on Tuesday.

The sales disruption shows how the tariff war escalated by U.S. President Donald Trump is upending global trade and forcing changes at a prominent food company that pays U.S. farmers to raise hogs that are slaughtered for meat.

Why it matters: China is also a major market for Canadian pork.

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China increased its levies on imports of U.S. goods this month, hitting back at Trump’s decision to single out the world’s No. 2 economy for higher duties.

Beijing’s additional tariffs pushed China’s effective duty rate on U.S. pork to 172 per cent, according to industry data.

“With China no longer essentially being available, we really had to pivot our business,” Smithfield CEO Shane Smith said on a quarterly earnings call.

Smithfield posted a 9.5 per cent rise in total sales to $3.77 billion (C$5.22 billion) in the first quarter that ended on March 30, above analysts’ expectations for $3.62 billion, according to LSEG data. Shares jumped six per cent.

China represents about three per cent of Smithfield’s revenue, Smith said. The company has said it ships variety meat to China, such as pig stomachs, hearts and heads that U.S. consumers generally do not eat.

Before the trade war escalated, Smith said in March that Smithfield believed China would still be the best market for variety meat with increased tariffs.

“While it’s important, we do believe we have other options,” he said on Tuesday. “We’re able to ebb and flow with different markets.”

Trump has repeatedly urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to call him for discussions about a potential deal after slapping 145 per cent tariffs on most Chinese goods.

“China, at 145 per cent, is not a viable sales market for us at the moment,” said Donovan Owens, president of Smithfield’s fresh pork business.

Smithfield ships pork to more than 30 countries, and exports accounted for 13 per cent of its sales last year, according to the company.

Total U.S. exports of pork products to China were valued at about $1.1 billion (C$1.5 billion) in 2024, U.S. government data show.

“We can’t underestimate the importance that China has been to the overall industry,” Smith said.

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