Iowa Congressional Delegation Writes to Trump Administration: Protect Pork Exports to Mexico
Iowa's congressional delegation, led by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, has written to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, urging the Trump administration to consider the impact on farmers and consumers in its trade negotiations with Mexico and to protect the pork export market. Senator Joni Ernst and Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra joined the letter.
The lawmakers wrote that Iowa is the nation's number one pork producing state, that over one million metric tons of U.S. pork is exported to Mexico annually, and that U.S. pork exports to Mexico totaled over $2.85 billion in 2025 alone, a figure that has more than doubled in the six years under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Mexico purchased more than $1.8 billion worth of Iowa pork in 2025, making it the industry's largest export destination.
The letter follows the U.S. termination of the U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement in July 2025, after which Mexico's International Commercial Practices Unit launched an antidumping investigation into the American pork industry in December 2025. The lawmakers warned that the threat of retaliation from the number one export market creates a chilling effect on a pork industry already facing domestic headwinds from state regulations such as California's Proposition 12, and noted that tomato prices have risen nearly 7% since the agreement ended. The National Pork Producers Council backed the effort, calling for a resolution that preserves a stable U.S.-Mexico trading relationship.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 养猪场实景，作者 kallerna，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源 Wikimedia Commons
