Not even Republican-associated chickens are unthreatening from the consequences of President Donald Trump’s trade war.
On Wednesday, Trump announced a sweeping set of tariffs on nearly every country in the world, including a 34% tax on imports from China. A selloff has ensued in global financial markets. On Friday, China hit back at the U.S. with its own 34% tariff on American goods, along with a suspension of all imports of chicken from two U.S. suppliers, Mountaire Farms and Coastal Processing.
An Arkansas-grown company now headquartered in Delaware, Mountaire is the fourth-largest chicken producer in the country, according to its website. It employs over 10,000 people at facilities in five states, including Arkansas.
Mountaire’s chairman is Ron Cameron, a Little Rock poultry mogul who keeps a low profile but donates mightily to Republican causes. According to a recent profile in Vox, Cameron has given some $75 million to candidates and political groups across the U.S. in the past decade, almost all of it to Republicans. As detailed in a 2020 story in The New Yorker, Cameron has given millions to Trump’s campaigns over the years (though in the most recent election, he initially supported Mike Pence and Nikki Haley).
He’s also one of the largest donors in Arkansas politics. Cameron gave at least $465,000 last year to groups opposing Arkansas ballot measures on abortion, medical marijuana and public education. He also chipped in $30,000 to the Arkansas Republican Party.
The AP reports that Chinese regulators said the sanctions were placed on Mountaire and Coastal Processing because their shipments contained an antibiotic drug that’s banned in China. But it’s tempting to wonder if Cameron’s political influence among Republicans might also play a role.
A spokesperson for Mountaire Farms did not respond to a request for comment.
So far, China hasn’t banned imports from other top-tier U.S. poultry producers, such as Springdale-based Tyson Foods, though they’ll feel the effects of Trump’s trade war nonetheless. In March, after the U.S. imposed a previous round of tariffs, China responded with an additional 15% levy on U.S. chicken and other agriculture products. Soybeans, another top Arkansas commodity, were hit with a 10% tariff.
In both cases, the fresh, across-the-board 34% tariff on U.S. goods announced by China will be applied on top of the March duties on farm goods in particular. And that’s just China. Reuters reported Friday that the European Union was also likely to place retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans in response to a 20% tariff the Trump administration has placed on all imports from the E.U. That’s bad news for Arkansas farmers but good news for their competitors in Brazil and elsewhere.
