Trump administration chews over lowering beef tariffs

A White House plan to lower retail beef prices by increasing foreign meat imports fell flat with agricultural groups before it was announced.

The Trump administration told ranchers’ representatives at a meeting May 11 that it would lower tariffs on beef for 200 days, but didn’t offer any other details.

Based on that confirmation, groups reacted, though the expected executive order from President Trump never came. Reuters reported the White House was fine-tuning the proposal.

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America CEO Bill Bullard said he was relieved the White House didn’t follow through, at least not right away. Increasing imports will discourage U.S. cattlemen from rebuilding herds, he said.

“We need a plan to achieve self-reliance in beef for national security,” Bullard said. “This appears to be a piecemeal approach.”

Trump mentioned beef prices at a White House event May 11 unrelated to beef. Trump asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, “How’s the beef doing? Gotta get the beef down.”

“We’re working on it,” she said.

At grocery stores, beef prices stand out. While inflation was fairly low for other major food indexes, beef prices rose 2.7% from March to April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported May 12. In the past year, ground beef has gone up 14.5%, steaks 16.1% and roasts 17.8%.

Prices have risen even though beef imports are up 18% so far this year, according to USDA figures.

The U.S. allows in limited amounts of beef at a low tariff, 4.4 cents per kilogram, 2.2 pounds. Once the limits are exceeded, the tariff shoots up to 26.4%.

Quotas vary by country. The United Kingdom, for example, can import 13,000 tons of beef at the low-tariff rate, while Australia can import 378,214 tons. Canadian and Mexican beef imports are not limited because of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.