(Reuters) -China, the world's biggest pork consumer, is no longer a viable market for top U.S. pork processor Smithfield Foods due to retaliatory tariffs by Beijing, company executives said on Tuesday.

The sales disruption shows how the tariff war escalated by U.S. President Donald Trump is upending global trade and forcing changes at a prominent food company that pays U.S. farmers to raise hogs that are slaughtered for meat.

China increased its levies on imports of U.S. goods this month, hitting back at Trump's decision to single out the world's No. 2 economy for higher duties.

Beijing's additional tariffs pushed China's effective duty rate on U.S. pork to 172%, according to industry data.