Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/19/19

The outbreak of African swine fever has forced China to cull millions of hogs and left the country — where pork is a culinary staple — hungry for imported proteins. But U.S. pork producers are struggling to meet the demand because of retaliatory tariffs on their goods, write Pro Ag's Liz Crampton and the South China Morning Post's Keegan Elmer this morning.

The 62 percent levy on U.S. pork has made the meat too expensive for consumers in China and left exporters frustrated that they're missing out on the rare opportunity while competitors like Brazil and Germany cash in. "We certainly want to retain as much of our business as possible [in China], but when you have a tariff that's five times higher than the standard, that's a significant headwind," said Joe Schuele of the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Trump announced Tuesday that he'll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 gathering later this month, and negotiators from each country will launch another round of talks before then. Meanwhile, Trump's trade office continued to get an earful from U.S. businesses and trade groups pushing the White House not to slap tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese goods. As the negotiations with Beijing drag on, the window for U.S. farmers is slamming shut as other countries claim their share of the Chinese market.

A third round of trade aid for farmers in 2020? American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall told Reuters that the approaching election cycle could make it more difficult for Congress to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — and for the Trump administration to resolve its trade dispute with China and finalize any other deals. If that's the case, farmers would have restricted access to key customers for a third year and might need more government aid, Duvall said.

"If we're not going to get USMCA finished, if we're not going to get the solution to our problems in China or Japan, then we need to be talking about another payment to try to hold farmers over until that gets done," Duvall said.

The Agriculture Department has already pledged as much as $28 billion in support since the trade war began last year, the majority of which is in the form of direct payments to farmers.