Donald Trump announced Friday that he was scrapping U.S. tariffs on beef, coffee, tropical fruits and a broad swath of other commodities — a dramatic move that comes amid mounting pressure on his administration to better combat high consumer prices.
Trump has built his second term around imposing steep levies on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of encouraging domestic production and lifting the U.S. economy. His abrupt retreat from his signature tariff policy on so many staples key to the American diet is significant, and it comes after voters in off-year elections this month cited economic concerns as their top issue, resulting in big wins for Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and other key races around the country.
From what I could find from a couple of minutes of searching the US imports slightly more that 50% of it’s beef.
So if the price of half of all beef goes up, and not everyone is going to be able to have domestically produced beef, supply doesn’t meet demand. so the price will go up, especially if people don’t seek out substitutes. It would only go up so much until it gets to the point where the price of imported beef is competitive.
Also remember Trump put tariffs on everything. A rancher needs some parts for some equipment that broke down and it’s coming from another country? That’s going to cost more. Feed and medicine for the animals may cost more. I don’t raise cows so there’s probably a bunch of costs that have gone up that I can’t think of. Those costs result in it being more expensive to produce beef and that will also increase the price. In fact only reducing tariffs on food importers while still having them on everything else may screw over farmers as they may become unable to compete with farmers in other countries that don’t have to pay tariffs on equipment and supplies like US farmers do now.