By Ryan Hanrahan
Politico’s Grace Yarrow reported that “President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday that aims to lower ground beef prices by dramatically boosting imports from other countries despite outrage from Republicans and allies in the beef industry. Trump’s proclamation will remove tariffs from 300,000 metric tons of imported lean beef trimmings for 90 days. He said the countries supplying the beef would sell it at 25 percent below current market prices, as he first announced on Truth Social Friday.”
“Trump’s proclamation does not specify which countries will supply the beef imports, as questions have swirled about which countries even have the supply of trimmings to export in the short term,” Yarrow reported. “Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Tuesday that she was not ‘privy’ to that information and that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was working closely with Trump on the details of the imports.”
“Trump said he could also halt the increased imports if beef prices don’t come down or if countries do not sell at a 25 percent discount the president said he had negotiated,” Yarrow reported. “‘If the action taken in this proclamation does not result in a lower sale price of imported ground beef, I may end the action taken in this proclamation in order to, among other things, prevent a windfall to foreign producers,’ Trump said in the proclamation.”
Major Livestock Groups Protest the Import Plan
Yarrow reported that “a new wave of industry backlash from the American Farm Bureau Federation, Livestock Marketing Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United States Cattlemen’s Association took hold before the White House released Wednesday’s proclamation.”
Source : illinois.edu