President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported over the next three months without facing out-of-quota tariffs. In a Truth Social post, Trump said, “We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.”
The White House said Trump will formally sign an executive order on the tariff waiver for beef trimmings imports within the next two weeks. Trump’s post did not disclose which companies made the pricing commitment or which foreign beef exporters are part of the arrangement. He described the move as coming “as we work to rebuild this herd [of U.S. cattle] and help our ranchers.”
In the same post, Trump said, “Today, I concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families.” He added, “This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”
The United States applies tariffs to imported beef once a country’s quota is exceeded. According to a May report from the American Farm Bureau Federation, “imports entering under quota generally face a tariff of just 4.4 cents per kilogram, while imports above quota face a 26.4% tariff.” For beef valued around $7 per kilogram, that difference can exceed $1.80 per kilogram in tariff costs, the report said.
U.S. beef prices have climbed sharply in 2026 as the national cattle herd has shrunk to its lowest level since the 1950s, after years of drought, high feed costs and herd liquidation. Trump’s announcement comes as his fellow Republicans fear that Americans’ concerns about the affordability of everyday products such as food could lead to losses for GOP candidates in November’s congressional elections.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and two Republican senators from states with large beef cattle populations criticized the move, saying it would not address Trump’s stated intention of helping to increase the size of the U.S. beef herd.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said in a tweet, “I’ve advised President Trump against this course of action for a year because American ranchers have been struggling against the packer monopoly for decades, and this will further harm them, most of whom are MAGA Republicans.” He added, “The President’s heart is in the right place on wanting lower prices for the American people, and beef prices have been impacted by the Mexican screwworm.” Sheehy continued, “But the reality is this action will make it more difficult for American ranchers to rebuild our herd and bring prices down for the American people. And most importantly, this will harm our ranching families who feed the nation.”
Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said on X, “I’m extremely disappointed by this decision from the White House.” She said, “We all want lower grocery prices, but as I’ve said for months, we cannot do it at the expense of American producers. Flooding the market with foreign beef hurts our livestock industry and undermines the long-term solution: growing the U.S. cattle herd to meet demand.”
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall said in a statement that his group “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-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd,” Woodall said. “Cattle markets have already turned sharply lower this morning, to the detriment of farmers and ranchers.”
“Today’s announcement and other market interventions throw cold water on the prospect of herd expansion and sacrifices long-term stability for short term messaging,” he said.
PMI Foods President Darin Parker called the decision “a politically sensitive issue” in a statement. “U.S. beef producers continue to be hammered with huge losses,” Parker said. “Live cattle prices remain high and the President’s decision to allow 12,000 containers of beef trimmings under quota is merely a short-term solution to ease costs for consumers.”
“But deeper underlying supply issues can’t be solved with this kind of Band-Aid approach,” he added. “A more durable, structural solution is to incentivize American ranchers to rebuild and expand the domestic herd. Enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of U.S. beef supply requires a broader commitment to rebuilding the foundation of America’s beef industry.”
Altin Kalo, head economist at Steiner Consulting Group, said the potential impact on prices remains to be seen. “Imported beef already is trading at a steep discount,” Kalo told CNBC. “The out-of-quota tariff has not been an issue for importers to this point as a record amount is being imported.” He noted that many grocery stores use only fresh ground beef in the meat case, but almost all beef meant for grinding, which comes from Australia or Brazil, is frozen, and a large portion of that goes to food service operations, mostly fast-food companies.
