China resumes Canadian pork purchases after swine fever outbreak ravages meat supply
Good news for farmers, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
China confirmed on Wednesday that it will resume purchases of Canadian beef and pork halted earlier this year because of what Beijing said were food safety issues.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had shared the development on Twitter earlier in the day. "Thanks to Ambassador [Dominic] Barton and the Canadian meat industry for their work on re-opening this important market for our meat producers and their families," he wrote.
China stopped its purchases in June, claiming that loopholes in the Canadian system kept regulators from verifying the meats were safe. Chinese-Canadian relations are still strained, but the purchases will help counter a shortage of pork in China attributed to an outbreak of swine fever.
A clerk stacks cuts of pork at a meat market in Beijing in September. (AP Photo/Fu Ting)
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The compromise with Canada comes while U.S. and Chinese officials consider rolling back some tariffs the countries imposed on each other as negotiators try to complete a partial trade deal. The world's second-largest economy is still shunning shipments of Canadian canola oil.
FOX Business' R.N. White contributed to this report.