America First Beef Plan Begins With 300,000 Metric Tons From Somewhere Else

WASHINGTON—The president’s new plan to put affordable American beef back on American tables will begin by bringing in up to 300,000 metric tons of beef from somewhere other than America.

For the next 90 days, the imported ground beef can enter without triggering the higher tariff normally charged after a quota is filled. The administration says the added supply will lower grocery prices. Ground beef averaged $6.89 a pound in July, up from $4.39 five years earlier, while the national cattle herd stood at 86.2 million head after five years of contraction.

The government helped tighten that supply last year when it closed the southern border to Mexican cattle to contain the New World screwworm, a livestock parasite. One Arizona port reopened Monday under new inspections, but economists say rebuilding normal cattle flows will take months. Washington is therefore addressing a shortage partly reinforced by its own border policy with a temporary import program large enough to require its own unit of measurement.

American ranchers and more than a dozen Republican senators have objected. Their concern is that cheaper foreign beef could push cattle prices down, reduce producers’ profits, and weaken the incentive to rebuild the domestic herd. The White House response is that consumers need relief now, leaving ranchers to participate in America First by competing with the imports selected to rescue it.

If the plan works, hamburger becomes less expensive for 90 days. When the tariff holiday ends, the country can return to rebuilding its cattle herd with whatever incentive remains after the emergency solution arrived from abroad.