Trump says cheaper Brazilian and Argentine beef will enter US under 90-day tariff pause

US President Donald Trump said Friday that beef entering under his administration's tariff suspension would come primarily from Argentina and Brazil, as the government seeks to bring down grocery prices that have remained stubbornly high throughout the year.

Speaking at an Oval Office event in Washington surrounded by ranchers and farmers, Trump said inspectors were already overseas checking the shipments. "It's coming from Argentina. It's coming from Brazil," he said. "It's coming from a couple of other places. We have our inspectors down. It's very clean. It's very good."

Trump announced in August that the United States would, for 90 days, allow an additional 300,000 metric tonnes of lean beef trimmings to enter under the lower in-quota tariff rate.

The measure is intended to encourage imported beef to be sold at a 25 per cent discount to the prevailing import price. Trump has presented it as a way to reduce costs for shoppers while giving US ranchers time to rebuild herds after years of tight supply.

The plan immediately drew opposition from cattle industry groups and Republican lawmakers, who argued that lower grocery prices should not come at ranchers' expense.

Beef tariff suspension faces scrutiny over Brazilian billionaire's role

The beef tariff suspension has come under scrutiny following a Wall Street Journal report that Trump met Joesley Batista, who shares control of JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, a day before the announcement.

The report said Batista had lobbied Trump to remove the 26.4 per cent import tax as a way to ease rising beef prices. However, it did not establish that the meeting determined the administration's decision.

In 2020, US authorities announced penalties under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving Joesley and Wesley Batista, J&F and JBS over a bribery scheme linked to the company's expansion in the United States. The Securities and Exchange Commission penalised the brothers and JBS, while J&F separately pleaded guilty to an FCPA conspiracy charge brought by the Justice Department.

Trump did not directly address the meeting with Batista on Friday, but defended the limited scale of the import suspension. "We're doing it in a very limited fashion because our ranchers can handle it, but our ranchers really needed a little bit of help, and our ranchers want the prices to be down too," he said.

The tariff suspension also follows the recall of nearly 30,000 pounds of Argentine beef distributed in Texas and Florida after it entered the country without the required import reinspection. The incident occurred as the administration increased its focus on imported meat.

What Trump's two new executive orders do

Trump signed two executive orders at the Resolute Desk on Friday.

One directs federal agencies to make it easier for ranchers and farmers to butcher, process, package and sell their own products directly, removing a step that has long frustrated smaller operations. The other orders agencies to review country-of-origin labelling for foreign beef and consider measures to remove grey wolf protections, among other provisions.

Neither order changes the law on its own. Agencies must now study the proposed changes, while Congress would still have to act on the labelling issue.

Asked when mandatory labelling might be introduced, Trump said the process was already under way. "We're putting it in front of Congress right away," he said. "It should be no problem."

That confidence could face obstacles. Country-of-origin labelling for meat was previously mandatory, but Congress repealed it in 2015 after a World Trade Organisation panel ruled that it discriminated against Canadian and Mexican beef.

Trump also criticised what he called a four-company monopoly in US beef processing. The four largest processors are Tyson Foods, JBS S.A., Cargill and National Beef Packing Co.

"I've heard all about it. I've been listening to it, and they say they're a very nasty group, very difficult to deal with," he said. "And they cost our farmers a lot of money, and they cost our ranchers a lot of money, and they cost the public a lot of money and grief, and we're not going to let it happen any longer."

For an administration that campaigned heavily on rural support, balancing cheaper beef with the interests of ranchers is proving more complicated than a single Oval Office signing can resolve. Whether shipments from Argentina and Brazil will make a meaningful difference at the meat counter will ultimately be determined by shoppers, not press events.

Originally published on IBTimes UK