Regardless of the Trump EO Efforts to Fight Excessive Meat Costs, American Beef Must Be Made Nice Once more

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at combatting the rising price of beef. With the Department of Health and Human Services’ call to Make America Healthy Again by the increased consumption of whole foods, including animal products, reining in the price of this major staple of the American diet is critical to not just affordability aims, but to redirect thinking on American health goals. 

In the EO, Trump wrote about the difficult road American ranchers have had over the years, which has contributed to the beef shortages, and which in turn has resulted in increased prices.

4. Given the demand for beef, certain United States cattle farmers and ranchers supplement their herds, specifically their feedlot stocks, with cattle (calves) imported from Mexican ranchers.  But following new detections of the New World screwworm in Mexico in May 2025, the Department of Agriculture Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service, in conjunction with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), restricted the importation of live animal commodities from or transiting through Mexico, further limiting domestic feedlot stock supplies.

5. These factors have combined to result in the United States cattle herd contracting to record lows.  As of July 2025, the United States cattle inventory totaled 94.2 million head, including 28.7 million beef cows.  This is one percent lower than the United States cattle inventory surveyed in July 2023, continuing the downward trend of cattle inventory in the United States.

6.  The abovementioned factors have also cumulatively resulted in higher beef prices for United States consumers, including for ground beef.  Since January 2021, ground beef prices have continued to rise, reaching an average of $6.69 per pound in December 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the highest since the Department of Labor started tracking beef prices in the 1980s.

7.  Despite the increased prices and the availability of more affordable protein alternatives, United States consumers’ demand for beef remains strong.  The United States imported a record high amount of beef in 2024, reaching 4.64 billion pounds, a more than 24 percent increase in beef imports since 2023.  Among the beef products the United States imports are lean trimmings, which are blended with fattier domestic trimmings to produce ground beef products, such as hamburgers.

Trump then signaled that the solution would be resident in increased imports from foreign sources (other than Mexico):

9.  As President of the United States, I have a responsibility to ensure that hard-working Americans can afford to feed themselves and their families.  After considering the information provided to me by the Secretary of Agriculture, among other relevant information, I am taking action to temporarily increase the quantity of in-quota imports of lean beef trimmings under the United States beef TRQ to increase the supply of ground beef for United States consumers.

10.  Section 404 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) (Public Law 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809, 4959-61 (19 U.S.C. 3601)) authorizes the President, in certain circumstances, to modify TRQs on certain agricultural products.  In particular, section 404(b) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3601(b)) provides that where imports of an agricultural product are subject to a TRQ, and where the President determines and proclaims that the supply of the same or directly competitive or substitutable agricultural product will be inadequate, because of a natural disaster, disease, or major national market disruption, to meet domestic demand at reasonable prices, the President may temporarily increase the quantity of imports of the agricultural product that is subject to the in-quota rate of duty established under the TRQ.  And section 404(d)(3) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3601(d)(3)) provides that the President may allocate the in-quota quantity of a TRQ for any agricultural product among supplying countries or customs areas and may modify any allocation as determined appropriate by the President.

11.  After considering the information provided to me by the Secretary of Agriculture, among other relevant information, I find that imports of lean beef trimmings into the United States are currently subject to the United States TRQ for beef and determine that the supply of lean beef trimmings or directly competitive or substitutable agricultural products will be inadequate to meet domestic demand at reasonable prices because of a natural disaster and major national market disruption.  Accordingly, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to temporarily increase the quantity of imports of lean beef trimmings subject to the in-quota rate of duty established under the beef TRQ.  In addition, I determine that it is appropriate to allocate all of the increased in-quota quantity of beef, as established by this proclamation, to Argentina.

RedState has kept on top of this matter for quite some time. In November, my colleague Ward Clark reported on the president requesting the DOJ to look into price fixing at the meat packing companies, and Trump’s first introduction of the importation idea now embodied in the executive order. 

I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation. We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation’s food supply. Action must be taken immediately to protect Consumers, combat Illegal Monopolies, and ensure these Corporations are not criminally profiting at the expense of the American People. I am asking the DOJ to act expeditiously. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

The investigation will reportedly encompass foreign-owned beef-packing companies accused of unfair trade practices. President Trump has also floated the idea of importing beef to bring down prices.

In September 2025, rancher consortium CEO and guest editorialist, Bill Bullard took to these pages to affirm that it is the large ranching corporations that are hurting the American rancher and driving up prices.

Unless you have cattle herds roaming near your home, your beef either comes from the American Midwest and West or, increasingly, is imported. We have a beef deficit, not because demand is off the charts, but because state and federal government look the other way while global meatpacking giants like JBS, Marfrig, Tyson, and Cargill have monopolistic control over their markets, and because they’re being priced out by imports brought in by these same global meatpackers.

Read More: Trump’s ‘Inflated Beef’ Claims Spur DOJ Investigation Into Meat Packers

Make Beef American Again: Why Congress Must Act Now

Our sister site Hot Air outlined the deficits and attacks on the American farmer which are driving the prices up.

Times have been incredibly hard for beef producers, too, and that has compounded the problem at the checkout counter.

The American beef industry has been in an ongoing crisis cycle since about 2019, and herds have been in a precipitous decline the entire time.

This year, US cattle herds hit a 75-year low.

• Persistent Drought: Years of dry weather across Western states and the Great Plains decimated pasturelands, forcing ranchers to sell off breeding stock they could no longer afford to feed.
• Incentivized Slaughter: Record-high market prices have ironically hindered recovery; many ranchers are choosing to sell young heifers for immediate profit rather than keeping them to rebuild their herds.
• Processing Strains: The lack of available cattle has forced major processors like Tyson Foods to shutter facilities, including a massive plant in Nebraska that recently employed 3,200 workers.

There have also been the pressures of hostile administrations weighing on ranchers and farmers.

RedState further reported back in August 2025, about the USDA’s move to restrict Mexican cattle for import, thanks to the New World screwworm infestation. As my colleague Clark wrote, screwworm infestations had jumped in Mexico by 53 percent over a period of months. In April, Department of Agriculture (AG) Secretary Rollins had already warned her Mexican counterpart that they had 30 days to rectify the problem; a warning that obviously fell on deaf ears.

Dive Deeper: New World Screwworm Cases Surge In Mexico – But American Cattlemen’s Association Favors Imports

Ag Sec. Brooke Rollins Threatens Mexico Cattle Imports, Puts Screws on Them to Combat Deadly Worm

Even with this pact between Argentina, a major beef supplier, and the U.S., there is much more that needs to be done to restore the abundant supply of American beef. To protect Americans, to combat the challenges of drought and illness, and to increase production for the American market alone. One thing that could contribute to this, as Bill Bullard urged, is for Congress to pass the American Beef Labeling Act of 2025 (S.421), which would require foreign-country labeling of beef products so that American consumers know where the products they are purchasing hail from. 

The USDA claims it is in partnership with HHS/MAHA to support and encourage local sourcing to the community. This needs to be ramped up in spades. Just as TrumpRx seeks to drive down drug prices by connecting consumers directly to the pharmaceutical source, the HHS and USDA can work to connect consumers to local farms and regional agricultural sources to obtain American beef.

We get out beef from a farm down the road. Support local farmers. Completely worth it. We spend the same amount but we know what it’s being fed and watch it grow. https://t.co/yQYE1JHwqR

— AmericanMade (@American_MadeUS) February 7, 2026

And just as the terrible Biden administration regulatory policies helped contribute to this dearth, rolling back regulations that allow American ranchers to produce more in the way they know how, can also turn the tide.

But you can wipe out laying hens in Nov. and be back to the same numbers by May.

Cattle = breeding in 2025,
Calving in 2026.
Raising and fattening up takes 18-24 months.
THEN you get beef for the market.

Cattle bred this year will be beef in the stores in 2028. https://t.co/bD1ZJFIXa0

— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) December 14, 2025

The Trump EO is a temporary Band-Aid. This three-pronged and all-of-the above approach that prioritizes the American rancher could be the building blocks to help Make American Beef Great Again.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.

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