Trump reveals unprecedented 'Great American Beef' plan amid screwworm crisis

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he’d just “concluded a deal” to import as much as 300,000 metric tons of ground beef – the equivalent of more than 2.6 billion quarter-pound hamburgers – to the United States over a 90-day period, an arrangement that comes as beef prices continue to soar.

“As everyone knows, under President Biden, beef prices soared at their fastest rate and the American beef herd fell to its smallest size in modern history,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“As we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff. We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.”

Beef prices have risen in recent months due in large part to a severe cattle shortage, one exacerbated by the recent screwworm infestation that has threatened Texas ranchers – and, by some critics, blamed on the Trump administration for having terminated USAID-funded screwworm monitoring programs operated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Former President Richard Nixon issued a similar directive in 1972 amid rising meat prices, though without a parallel to Trump’s supposed “commitment” that beef would be sold below market prices.

“This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again,” Trump continued. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”