While new tariffs on most countries are not happening (at least for the next three months), the U.S.-China tariffs are in place — the U.S. at 125% for China, and China at 84% on the U.S.
Those tariffs include some agricultural products that American farmers would have trouble selling elsewhere.
Washington and Beijing are playing a game of chicken — and that includes over chicken feet. If U.S. products get too expensive in China, American farmers are worried about losing a key market for things like chicken feet. While people in other countries often don’t eat chicken feet, many consumers in China do.
“We very well could take a hit,” said Davie Stephens, who raises chickens in Clinton, Kentucky — specifically broilers for Pilgrim’s Pride — so he doesn’t sell directly to China.
But he knows China is the market for chicken feet. He’s hoping Chinese consumers love them so much, they won’t blink at higher prices.
“When you go somewhere in the supermarket or go to eat if there’s something you really want and it’s a delicacy, you’re willing to pay and you’ve got the money — you’re probably going to pay for it,” he said. “And the emerging middle class I’ve seen evolve into China, maybe they’re consumers willing to pay more.”
Pig parts that don’t appeal to Western palates are also big in China.
“Snouts, feet, ears, organs — those types of products,” said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, which is a trade group. He said that U.S. pork would face a total 131% import tax in China.
And China imports almost 60% of U.S. pork parts; it would be a difficult market to replace. Although they’ve tried, Schuele said.
“We have made an effort to, for example, ramp up promotion of those types of products in Latin America, Southeast Asia — places like that,” he said. “Unfortunately, you piece those markets together, they really don’t add up to what China is able to take.”
Schuele noted that the cost of animal feed is falling, driven by lower prices for corn and soybean meal. That could partially cushion the blow if the Chinese market for pork and pig parts took a big hit from tariffs.
But farmers don’t have a huge profit margin, because they’re paying higher prices for other things.
“You’re looking at everything from building materials to insurance to fuel costs,” Schuele added.
Add the uncertainty of the tariff war to the mix, and Schuele said it’s no wonder that farmers are concerned about losing a key market for products that much of the world doesn’t want.
Correction (April 11, 2025): A previous version of this story misspelled Joe Schuele’s name.
