With beef prices at an all-time high, the U.S. is set to quadruple imports of Argentine beef in an attempt to reduce consumer costs.
President Donald Trump first mentioned a potential “beef deal” on Sunday, drawing sharp criticism from rural lawmakers and farm groups, many of whom have been loyal supporters. During a Thursday morning appearance on Fox Business, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Trump suggested increasing the tariff rate quota on Argentine beef from 20,000 metric tons to up to 100,000 metric tons.
“This is not a massive influx in the millions of tons, I think that some have thought, of beef from Argentina,” Rollins said. “It is an important, strategic, intentional move out.”
Reuters reported on Thursday that the administration will raise the quota to 80,000 metric tons. Cattle producers and agriculture groups say that isn't likely to result in lower consumer costs – but they worry such a move could still hurt producers.
“Let’s not do anything that would artificially reduce the price of cattle for our cattle producers,” said Mark McHargue, the president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, earlier this week. “We don’t want to crash the market.”
High beef prices in the U.S. are the result of a variety of factors, including a cattle herd which is the smallest it has been since 1951.
Drought across much of the Midwest and Great Plains in recent years caused grazing acres to dry up and increased feed costs, which then led to smaller herds. Imports of live cattle from Mexico have been intermittently suspended for months over concerns about the New World Screwworm. And despite the dwindling supply, demand for beef remains steady and high.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a plan on Wednesday to strengthen the beef industry. It includes changes like allowing grazing on federal lands, temporarily reducing inspection fees for small processors and strengthening enforcement for “Made in the USA” labeling requirements.
Those moves are a step in the right direction, according to U.S. Cattlemen’s Association President Justin Tupper. But they don’t assuage his concerns about the precedent that’s set by increasing imports.
“We’ve been calling for opening up these public lands at USDA for a long time,” he said. “We think enhancing anything that can enhance the young farmer and rancher to try and stay and come back to these ranches is good. But the most important part of that is they have to be profitable. And we’re finally seeing some [profit], and then we’re doing things to try to limit that growth.”
Trump first publicly mentioned the Argentina plan while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One early this week.
“We would buy some beef from Argentina,” Trump said when asked for details. “If we do that, it would bring our beef prices down.”
Cattlemen’s groups, farmers’ unions and lawmakers immediately condemned the idea.
Farm organizations and agriculture officials in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota issued statements urging Trump to reconsider. All five members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation publicly opposed increased imports. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota also broke with Trump on the issue, saying increasing imports “isn’t the way” to lower prices.
The tariff rate quota of 20,000 metric tons has been in place for Argentine beef for years. That means that Argentina can import up to 20,000 metric tons of beef with very low tariff rates, and anything above that quota is subject to a 26.4% tariff. A USDA spokesperson declined to provide additional details about the import quota increase.
Both McHargue and Tupper said that relatively minor increase likely isn’t enough to materially impact consumer prices. Tupper said he’s more concerned about the precedent it sets and potential safety issues with imported beef.
“We believe beef is the safest, best protein on the planet, and we want to keep it that way, and we do because we have a lot of good safety protocols here in the United States,” Tupper said. “A lot of these other countries – Brazil, Argentina are just a couple – they don’t have the same standards that we do, and that’s a big concern.”
Currently, most beef imported to the U.S. comes from Australia and Canada. Argentina has imported nearly 30,000 metric tons of fresh beef to the U.S. as of Oct. 11, according to a report from the Agricultural Marketing Service, which accounts for just about 2% of total imports this year.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
