President Donald Trump announced late last week that his administration would allow imports of up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef for the next 90 days and that the meat would be sold below current market value. A metric ton is slightly heavier than a standard ton.
“For the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Friday, August 21, 2026. “We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25% below current market prices.”
The major factor in beef prices is that the American cattle herd is at its lowest level in decades, combined with a contracting number of ranches.
According to the Coalition for a Prosperous America, the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to 86.2 million head, the lowest in 75 years. Moreover, the ranching base has been contracting for years as well. The Coalition for a Prosperous America is a “national non-profit organization representing exclusively domestic producers across many sectors and industries of the U.S. economy.”
The U.S. had 732,123 cattle ranches in 2022, down 17% from 2017, with over 450,000 lost cattle ranches since 1997.
The Kansas Farm Bureau pushed back on the imports in a statement, noting the imports would harm beef producers.
“The answer to increasing prices in grocery stores isn’t selling out American farmers and ranchers to buy votes in November,” Kansas Farm Bureau President Glenn Brunkow said. “I know we all want lower prices at the grocery store, but President Trump’s plan to increase beef imports would have serious long-term consequences for Kansas ranchers and consumers.”
Kansas Livestock Association CEO Matt Teagarden said in an email statement that producers need stability.
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