Trump intervenes in tight beef market

The continuing high food inflation in the United States is a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump. To do something about this, he wants to temporarily relax the import tariffs on beef. Beef prices need to go down. American cattle farmers are responding disappointedly to their president's policy. To be precise, Trump wants to lower the import tariff on 300,000 tons of ground beef for a period of 90 days. With this extra volume, he is trying to bring supply and demand into better balance. This is an issue that has been troubling the market for some time, because the American beef market is marked by shortages. The American cattle herd has been declining for years and has fallen back to its lowest level in 75 years. High prices, tight supply Recently, Tyson Foods closed several slaughter and processing locations due to structurally low supply. This is yet another announcement of the closure of production sites in a short period of time. In July, the price of ground beef had risen to an average of $6.88 per pound, which works out to about €12 per kilo. In July, beef inflation was still more than 10%. With the lower import tariff, Trump expects to reduce prices by about 25%. Trump has also decided that it will again be allowed to import cattle from Mexico. In May, this was stopped because of outbreaks of New World screwworm in Mexico. By now, the situation would be safe enough again to resume imports. This measure should also help increase supply. Election promise under pressure Lower beef prices is what the people in the US want. This is what my voters want and it is what I want, said the president. The measure comes ahead of the Midterms, which will be held in early November. Trump is facing criticism because of high inflation, especially around food and energy. Since taking office, food prices have remained high, meaning an important election promise has not yet been fulfilled. That can put pressure on his popularity. Lowering fuel costs is a difficult matter because of the ongoing war in Iran. That is why Trump is also targeting beef prices, among other things, something Americans generally attach a lot of importance to. Trump understands that his plans conflict with the interests of farmers, but in this case he cannot have his cake and eat it too. Our cattle farmers are great, they are my people. But now we have reached a point where prices need to come down and we need to help the market a little. 'Disappointing decision' Colin Woodall, leader of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says he is disappointed in Trump's decision. Subsidizing foreign meat is not the way to let the American cattle herd recover. Other farmers' organizations from across the country also responded disappointedly.