Trump waives ‘out-of-quota’ beef tariffs for 90 days to lower prices

United States President Donald Trump says he will allow imports of up to 300,000 tonnes of ground beef over the next three months without paying higher tariffs, a move aimed at lowering the price of a household staple.

On Friday, Trump posted on social media that he made a deal to “substantially lower” the price of ground beef for Americans.

“We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices,” Trump wrote on his TruthSocial account. “This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”

Typically, a higher tariff rate kicks in on beef-exporting countries after the US has imported a certain quantity of beef.

Trump did not say with which country he had made that deal or which companies had agreed to sell their beef at below-market-rate prices.

When pressed for specifics by Al Jazeera, a White House official said Trump will formally sign an executive order “within the next two weeks”.

“In exchange for this tariff relief, President Trump has secured a deal with foreign beef exporters who will provide a 25 percent discount on beef exports to be passed along to American consumers,” the official added.

Trump also attempted to shift the blame for rising beef prices onto his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, who left the White House in January 2025 but whom Trump frequently blames for continued inflation in the US.