ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia’s poultry industry, the largest in the U.S. and the seventh largest in the world, faces significant risks due to increasing tariffs on key trade partners.

Experts warn that these tariffs could cripple the sector, which is vital to the state’s economy.

The U.S. Poultry and Egg Council, headquartered in Tucker, Georgia, has offices around the globe and is a key player in the industry’s trade efforts. Council president Greg Tyler expressed concern that tariffs could damage the long-standing trade relationships the industry has built over decades.

“We want to see those trade disputes go away,” Tyler said.

The poultry industry is a major economic driver in Georgia, employing over 88,000 workers and generating more than $28 billion annually. Tyler said over a quarter of the world’s poultry exports flow through the Port of Savannah.

Top trade partners include China, Canada and Mexico, which primarily import broiler chickens and byproducts, like chicken feet.

However, if tariffs are imposed, fewer products would be exported, leading to significant job losses in Georgia and beyond.

“If we can’t export this product, that means the U.S. industry is going to have to scale back on production,” Tyler explained. “And when we scale back on production, we’re going to have losses of jobs across the country.”

Negotiations could provide a potential solution to a years-long standoff. China imposed a ban on U.S. poultry in 2023 due to a bird flu outbreak, and Georgia’s poultry exports to China dropped dramatically. Although China still imports cooked poultry products, the market has yet to recover to its pre-ban levels.

“Removing some of these non-tariff barriers and freeing up some of these exports would help us get back into the Chinese market,” Tyler said. “It’s dramatically down from the $1 billion mark we had in 2022.”

The ongoing trade tensions are already affecting the industry. Canada has removed U.S. poultry products from store shelves, and other countries are beginning to look for alternatives.

Tyler hopes that swift negotiations could ease the impact.

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