About 90 percent of Mexico's $1.07bn annual imports of pork legs and shoulders come from U.S. suppliers and the country expects to import more from elsewhere to avoid pushing prices higher for the cuts used to make hams and other processed meats.
After U.S. President Donald Trump imposed steel and aluminium tariffs on its NAFTA trading partners, Mexico on Tuesday retaliated against pork, steel and products ranging from light fittings to bourbon.
The countermeasures could hurt farmers and industry in states that supported Trump in 2016 ahead of mid-term elections in November. Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures deferred trading months at one point fell more than 2 percent following the Mexico pork tariff news.
At the same time as imposing the tariff on U.S. pork, Mexico opened a 350,000-tonne quota for imports of the meat from other countries. Guajardo said that quota would cover demand for the rest of the year.
