China's hitting the US where it hurts: in the pork belly

[BEIJING] China just struck back at US import tariffs with its own set of reciprocal ones targeting, among other products, US pork.

China is the world's biggest pork producer, consumer and importer, and the country is planning a 25 per cent tax on US pork imports, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

China's attack on US pork imports comes just hours after US President Donald Trump ordered tariffs on a range of Chinese products from aerospace to machinery. Last month, people familiar with the matter said China was studying the impact of restrictions on US soya beans, used to feed the Asian country's more than 400 million pigs.

Analysts at New York-based investment bank Vertical Group highlighted US pork as an "easy target" for China. Domestic wholesale Chinese pork prices tumbled to the lowest since 2015 in March, with any recovery expected to take time due to an expansion in its industry.

BLOOMBERG