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Donald Trump is temporarily opening the U.S. market to additional beef imports over the next three months and will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product to enter the country without being subject to out-of-quota tariffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again,\u201d Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s post did not name any companies that have made these commitments, nor did he mention who he had reached a deal with regarding import waivers, or if any importers would sell the meat at \u201cbelow current market prices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Trump will formally sign an executive order to this effect within the next two weeks,\u201d a spokesperson from the White House told Fortune in a statement. The statement added this will only apply to \u201clean beef trimmings for ground beef production.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement went on to say the president has already secured deals with foreign exporters to provide the 25% discount.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeef prices are elevated because of supply shortages that began under the Biden administration,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe American cattle herd size is at a multi-decade low, while domestic demand for beef continues to be high.\u201d<\/p>\n
The news wasn\u2019t well received by domestic cattle groups. The National Cattleman\u2019s Beef Association, in response to Fortune\u2019s request for comment, took issue with the White House\u2019s approach to \u201cflood\u201d the market with subsidized foreign products.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile America\u2019s cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd,\u201d read a statement from NCBA CEO Colin Woodall. \u201cToday\u2019s announcement and other market interventions throw cold water on the prospect of herd expansion and sacrifices long-term stability for short term messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
High prices for meat<\/p>\n
The move amounts to a notable retreat from the protectionist logic behind Trump\u2019s tariff motives. The president has spent years arguing tariffs would protect American producers, raise revenue and ultimately benefit US consumers. Now, as beef prices remain stubbornly high, his administration is turning to a cheaper foreign supply to put downward pressure on prices.<\/p>\n
The deal comes as ground beef prices approach $7 a pound. The average price reached $6.89 per pound in July, up about 10% from a year earlier and 57% from five years ago, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The U.S. cattle herd, meanwhile, is near its lowest level since the 1950s.<\/p>\n
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Steve Hanke, an economist at Johns Hopkins University who also trades cattle, told Fortune the beef episode shows the problem with using tariffs when domestic supply is already constrained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big theme is that Trump has finally learned with hamburger that tariffs are simply taxes on American consumers and he\u2019s learned it at the grocery store the hard way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The beef shortage, Hanke said, is not primarily a consequence of one short-term disruption. The underlying problem is that the American cattle herd has been shrinking for years. The cattle shortage has been worsened by drought and the resulting pressure on pasture and feed costs. Ranchers have reduced herds, while strong demand for beef has kept pressure on the dwindling supply.<\/p>\n
That makes Trump\u2019s tariff policy particularly awkward for beef. The US needs more cattle and more beef, but the tariffs make imported beef more expensive. If domestic producers cannot immediately make up the difference, consumers absorb the higher prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a fundamental thing where the supply is shrinking and the market\u2019s tighter and tighter, do you put a tariff on imports?\u201d Hanke said. \u201cBrazil is one of the epicenters of the goddamn thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazil is particularly relevant because it is one of the world\u2019s major beef producers and a significant source of beef imports for the US. Yet the Trump administration has imposed a 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods following a US Trade Representative investigation into Brazilian trade practices. The investigation found Brazilian policies unreasonable or discriminatory toward US commerce.<\/p>\n
But Hanke argues the policy is working against the administration\u2019s own objective of bringing down food prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cTariffs are not a cure-all, they\u2019re always a tax on American consumers,\u201d he said, \u201cthat\u2019s the bottom line, it\u2019s just basic economics.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Trump #admits #tariffs #tax #Americas #love #burgers #beef #imports #market #prices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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