The US is to ease tariffs on ground beef in a move President Trump said would lower prices for consumers but which has been met with dismay by industry.
Washington is to allow up to 300,000 metric tonnes of imported product used for ground beef to enter the country without an out-of-quota tariff for the next 90 days.
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In a Truth Social post on Friday (21 August), Trump said: “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 tonnes of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff.”
Trump said he had concluded “a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families” and claimed the imported beef would be sold at “25% below current market prices”.
The President added the measure would give the US time “to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers” after beef prices rose sharply and the US cattle herd fell to its “smallest size in modern history”.
The announcement drew criticism from the US industry body the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which said the move would hurt producers at a sensitive point for herd-rebuilding decisions.
Colin Woodall, the chief executive of the association, said: “NCBA is disappointed by the President’s statement. While America’s cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government-subsidised, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd.”
Woodall added: “Cattle markets have already turned sharply lower this morning, to the detriment of farmers and ranchers.”
The US cattle herd stood at 86.2 million head of cattle and calves at the start of this year, the lowest since the 1950s, according to comments made in May by US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
USDA Economic Research Service data showed the average retail price of all fresh beef in the US had reached more than $9.60 per pound in July 2026, compared to $5.82 per pound in 2019.
Despite sharp increases in beef prices, US consumers have continued to buy beef in strong volumes.
The policy also lands as the US Department of Justice investigates possible anti-trust breaches in meatpacking.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in May the “current market structure and high concentration in the industry indicate anti-competitive activity”, with four processors controlling more than 85% of the beef-processing market.
At the time, Rollins said “consolidation” in US meatpacking around the four companies – Cargill, JBS, National Beef and Tyson Foods – had led to a “frightening landscape for cattle ranchers” and gives the processors “an unprecedented ability to wield market power and influence”.
