By Rachel Cramer (Radio Iowa)

One month after the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on imports to the U.S., the pork and soybean industries are closely watching how countries respond.

Weekly export sales for U.S. pork recently hit a marketing year low, in part because China cancelled a contract for 12,000 metric tons.

Iowa State University Extension economist Chad Hart says agricultural export sales fluctuate, but aggregate data over the last four months shows countries are buying less U.S. pork.

“We’ve been seeing a fairly downward trend,” Hart says, “and I think pork producers have been factoring that in as they are looking at how they’re marketing their animals over time.”

Hart says the majority of soybean export sales have already been made and delivered for the current marketing year, which ends in August.

He says the U.S./China trade war could have a much greater impact on the soybean industry if retaliatory tariffs are still in place this fall.

“Everybody’s been watching, trying to read the tea leaves to see what impacts the tariffs are having,” Hart says, “and I would argue, it’s a mixed bag right now.”

Hart says corn exports have been up despite the tariff chatter, but countries have pulled back purchases of U.S. pork since January.

He says the 10 percent baseline tariffs on almost all imports into the U.S. could make it harder to find new trading partners for farm products.