WASHINGTON — The National Pork Producers Council and the North American Meat Institute joined 40 agricultural trade groups with the help of Farmers for Free Trade to ask the Biden administration for suspension, reduction or elimination of all remaining Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs, in return for commitments from other countries to suspend commensurate retaliatory tariffs. The Section 301 tariffs deal with Chinese goods while Section 232 tariffs focus on retaliatory tariffs with Europe, Japan and the United Kingdom. 

The letter laid out the proposal to Katherine Tai, the US trade representative, as another effort to help agriculture during ongoing inflation issues and dealing with market changes due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Our businesses are faced with surging fuel prices, skyrocketing fertilizer and other input costs, and continued uncertainty in the global market,” the letter noted. “With so many challenges threatening our livelihood, removal of tariffs on food and agriculture inputs and removal of burdensome retaliatory tariffs would provide immediate relief to America’s food producers.”