Imported beef to sell 25% below market prices
President Trump said Friday he will temporarily allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the United States without triggering higher tariff rates, part of a plan aimed at easing a run-up in beef prices for American shoppers.
In a social-media post, Trump said the administration will permit the imports over the next 90 days. “We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices,” Trump said.
The White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Beef has been one of the most stubborn sources of food inflation for U.S. consumers over the past year and a half. Reducing beef prices has been a priority for the administration, which has faced pressure to convince Americans that it is taking steps to tame food inflation.
Even as the administration has been dogged by record-high prices, American cattle and rancher groups have pushed back against importing foreign beef. The United States started the year with its smallest herd since the 1950s, about 86.2 million cattle and calves, according to USDA data.
The administration had planned in May to suspend the annual tariff-rate quota — which applies a higher tariff rate after a certain level of beef imports is reached — on all beef-exporting nations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Those plans were delayed following an outcry from some congressional Republicans and cattle rancher groups.