On Thanksgiving Day, you may be having turkey with your loved ones—but many folks will be enjoying a delicious baked ham over the holidays as well!
The National Pork Board is working to make sure more folks around the world have ham—and other pork products—on their dining room tables in 2026.
“Pork is still very robust even in light of all the headwinds in terms of geopolitics demand for meat is strong,” said Andy Tauer, Vice President of International Market Development for the National Pork Board. He’s also an Indiana farmer based in Morgan County.
Even though U.S. pork exports to China were down 13 percent in the first seven months of this year, largely due to the trade war with China, Tauer says he’s encouraged by the recent trade agreement between the Trump administration and the Chinese government.
“We have a President that’s having a conversation about trade, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword. At least we’re getting it out in front,” said Tauer. “With a lot of the agreements and announcements that have been out thus far, we haven’t seen a lot of the finer details behind it, and so we did see some positive moves in terms of the 10-percent tariff reduction on pork into China, so that’s an improvement. But, we’re still not back to the tariff levels that we had a year ago, but we’re very pleased where we sit as we get closer to the end of the year.”
Aside from China and the rest of the Asian market, he says the biggest areas for the continued growth for U.S. pork exports has been to Mexico, Central America, and South America.
“[Those areas] continue to buy large volumes of U.S. pork,” says Tauer. “The Colombian market continues to really perform well and is really a shining star here in 2025.”
Tauer adds that the National Pork Board is working with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) and other groups to find new export markets for U.S. pork—including those across Africa.
“When we think about population growth, the African continent is going to be the next big consumer,” according to Tauer. “We do have some challenges in terms of cold chain and logistics, but last year, USMEF was over in Ghana for a seminar, and so we’re starting to lay some seeds over there. We’ll just have to continue to work on that market because it could be a great opportunity long-term for U.S. pork.”
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