The White House is pushing back against questions surrounding President Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend higher tariffs on ground beef imports from certain countries.
A White House official told News Nation that the policy was the product of an extensive internal process, not a single conversation with any outside party.
“President Trump’s action to address a short-term supply crunch in the beef market was the result of a long policy planning and coordination process involving domestic stakeholders; this action was not done as the result of any one conversation,” the official said.
The official added: “At the same time, the Trump Administration continues to work with American farmers and ranchers to grow America’s cattle herd, which is currently at a multi-decade low.”
Trump announced the tariff suspension in a social media post, describing a 90-day window allowing up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported at a 25 percent discount below market price.
The president wrote that the deal was intended to “substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families” and “reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”
When asked at Joint Base Andrews which countries were involved, Trump said: “There are a few countries, but they’re going to be sending in the highest quality beef, and it’s something that we need.”
The announcement has drawn criticism from GOP lawmakers and raises questions about whether a meeting the day before shaped the policy outcome.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump met with Joesley Batista in the Oval Office on August 20, the day before the announcement, where the two discussed how dropping a 26.4 percent import duty on Brazilian beef could help lower rising U.S. beef prices.
Joesley Batista shares control of JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, whose U.S. subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride is the country’s second-largest chicken processor.
Pilgrim’s Pride contributed $5 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, making it the single biggest donor to that effort, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
Joesley Batista and his brother Wesley Batista were fined by the Justice Department in 2020 over charges they violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by using funds from a bribery scheme to expand U.S. operations.
The brothers agreed to pay a $256 million fine and admitted to spending roughly $150 million to bribe more than 1,800 Brazilian government officials.
Those bribes were used to secure $1.3 billion in loans from the Brazilian Development Bank and federal pension funds, according to the Justice Department charges at the time.
