Technology and Science17 September, 20262 min read
Trump Authorizes Duty-Free Import of 660 Million Pounds of Beef Trimmings After JBS Meeting
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Trump authorized duty-free import of 660 million pounds of beef trimmings. JBS owner and donor pressed Trump to secure tariff exemption.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Tariff Exemption for Beef
President Donald Trump authorized the duty-free importation of 660 million pounds of beef trimmings that will get mixed in with other cuts to make ground beef, a move tied to a White House meeting with Joesley Batista of JBS. Forbes Chile says Trump outlined a plan to exempt 300,000 tons of beef imports for three months, announced a day after he met with Batista in the Oval Office on August 20 and urged him to remove a 26% import duty on Brazilian beef.
Forbes Chile also reports that the European Union implemented a ban on imports of Brazilian beef because that country’s meat does not meet its standards regarding antibiotic use and food safety, with the ban going into effect on Thursday. Forbes Chile adds that the over-quota tariff suspension allows countries to import up to 100,000 metric tons of lean beef cuts per month on a first-come, first-served basis, while any additional beef shipped to the U.S. thereafter is subject to a massive 26.4% tariff for “over quota.”
“Mystery Meat” Criticism
Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser told Democracy Now! that “Mystery meat” is a colloquial phrase for lean beef trimmings and that these are “little pieces of frozen beef, the beef that’s most likely to be contaminated.” Schlosser said Trump’s move is “basically screwing over American ranchers,” and he argued the imported beef is “some of the meat most likely to be contaminated.”
Truthout frames the policy as a “mystery meat” deal in which Congress voted in 2015 to end country-of-origin labeling for imported beef and pork, leaving customers unable to identify where the beef is coming from. Serious Eats, referencing Schlosser’s argument, says the mystery has “only gotten deeper—and, Schlosser argues, possibly riskier” after a Trump administration proclamation allowed roughly 660 million pounds of beef trimmings to be imported nearly duty-free.
Food Safety and Oversight
Forbes Chile reports that the EU demanded guarantees covering the entire animal lifecycle, according to an EU spokesperson to Reuters, and that Brazil offered none before the EU suspended Brazilian imports. Forbes Chile also says the White House has not responded to questions about the origin of tariff-free beef, but that the tax exemption could apply to any country classified under U.S. import-volume limitation law as “other countries or areas,” including Brazil.
Luverne Journal argues that “300,000 tons of foreign beef” is “a direct hit on the safety of our food supply,” and it says the deal brings cheaper, lower-standard beef into American kitchens while American ranchers are pushed toward bankruptcy. In the same debate over labeling and traceability, Luverne Journal says the deal means “families won’t even know they’re buying foreign meat,” and it calls the absence of mandatory country-of-origin labeling a key consequence of allowing the imports.