The president said the price of ground beef for working American families would be ’substantially lowered’ as a result of his announcement.
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Aug. 21 that he will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff for 90 days, as he attempts to reduce beef prices for American families.
In July, the average price for a pound of ground beef reached almost $7, having surged 70 percent since January 2021.
“Today, I concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families,” Trump said.
“As everyone knows, under President Biden, beef prices soared at their fastest rate and the American beef herd fell to its smallest size in modern history.
“As we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff.”
He said there was a commitment that this imported beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.
“This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again,” Trump said.
Beef imports are subjected to reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed last year by the Trump administration.
The baseline tariff is 10 percent, but certain countries, such as Brazil, face higher rates.
The United States imports about 15 percent of its beef, a figure that is rising as the nation’s cattle herd shrinks due to drought in the Western states and high feed costs.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, as of Jan. 1, there were 86.2 million head of cattle, the lowest number since 1951.
Australia’s supply has a market share of around 19 percent and, in 2024, it exported about 400,000 tonnes of beef to the value of $2.9 billion to the United States.
Other big beef exporters to the United States are New Zealand, Brazil, Panama and Colombia.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has argued that while Australia has been given relatively easy access to the U.S. beef market, U.S. producers have struggled to navigate Australia’s biosecurity regulations, which the NCBA called “lop-sided and unfair.”
In 2003, American raw beef products were banned from Australia when a single Canadian cow in Washington state was found to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—better known as “mad cow disease.”
The ban was finally lifted in 2019, but U.S. producers are yet to be able to sell products to Australian customers.
