President Trump’s temporary tariff pause on imported lean beef trimmings went into effect on September 1, 2026. The president’s proclamation encourages 300,000 metric tons of imported beef, mainly from Canada, to be sold at a 25% discount below the market price. But is that enough to lower prices for Wisconsinites?
Brady Zuck from the Wisconsin Beef Council and former board member for the Wisconsin’s Cattlemen Association said that amount of imported beef only equates to a “nine day supply of ground beef for the entire country.”
Zuck told Wisconsin’s Midday News that cattle prices dropped after the announcement and argued that the bigger concern is government interference in a market that is already dealing with tight cattle supplies.
“As cattle producers, we look at supply and demand and that really dictates production,” Zuck said. “This is the time of year where a lot of producers are making decisions about next year… When the price can drop dramatically like that and then we’re trying to make these marketing decisions of retaining heifers to potentially rebuild our cow herds, it just creates a pile of uncertainty.”
The Wisconsin Farmers Union previous criticized the White House’s decision to temporarily allow additional beef imports at lower tariff rates, arguing the move could hurt American cattle producers without addressing larger problems in the beef industry.
Watch or listen to the full conversation on Wisconsin’s Midday News.
