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Cuts in tariffs would help but because ranchers objected he has backed offLast updated 48 minutes ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.U.S. President Donald Trump greets patrons at a fast food hamburger restaurant on February 27,2026 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty ImagesOlder readers may remember a 1984 commercial for Wendy’s hamburgers in which a feisty grandmother, played by octogenarian Chicago manicurist Clara Peller, eyes the high bun-to-patty ratio of one of Wendy’s competitors and says, “Where’s the beef?” Interesting factoid: it was originally supposed to be “Where’s all the beef?” Everybody needs an editor: that would have carried much less punch and become much less famous — though one version of the story says Peller’s emphysema, not editorial genius, is what necessitated the shorter phrase.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorIn the Democratic presidential primaries that year former vice-president Walter Mondale used the phrase to suggest that rival Gary Hart’s program was thin on substance. Mondale won, Hart finished second. But it was Morning in America: Ronald Reagan beat Mondale 49 states to 1 (Minnesota, Mondale’s home state). There was the beef.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againThe commercial’s director, Joe Sedelmaier, died last week at the age of 92. In one of those quirks of history beloved by headline writers and other eccentrics, his death coincided with a Wall Street Journal story about how the Trump administration was considering eliminating “tariff-rate quotas” on U.S. imports of beef. (Tariff-rate quotas define the amount of a product that’s let in to a country at lower rates of tariff before a higher, usually exclusionary rate, kicks in.)But the Trump administration has backed off, prompting the question: Where’s the beef tariff cut?Ground beef is currently selling for US$6.90/lb. in the U.S., up from its post-COVID low of US$3.95/lb. in December 2020, the last complete month of Donald Trump’s first administration. That’s an increase of 75 per cent. Since January of last year, when Trump returned to office (I know: it seems longer, doesn’t it?), ground beef is up almost 25 per cent.By comparison, gasoline is US$4.49/gal., compared to US$2.80 last December, an increase of 60 per cent, though over a much shorter period. In Canada, ground beef is roughly $7.50/lb. retail, while gas this week is $1.87/litre or roughly $7/U.S. gallon.Trump probably isn’t to blame for high beef prices. Drought and low prices early this decade are. He is at fault for high gas prices — he, Benjamin Netanyahu, their war with Iran and the resulting double-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.But true blame doesn’t really matter any more. For the past several decades presidents have taken credit for good times and falling prices so when prices and times go the other way it’s only fair that they get the blame. There’s an election in November in the United States. (There’s an election every November, and many other months, in the United States.) Voters are angry about high beef, gas and other prices and keen to act out their anger on incumbents, which is bad news for Trump’s Republicans, who currently control both the House and Senate but may not for long.Apart from its effect on ranchers, who, like all producers everywhere, hunger for protection against any competition, foreign or domestic, lowering tariffs on beef would be smart. Logically, it would seem to require that the administration concede tariffs raise domestic prices, which of course they almost always do, though the administration is price-rise denialist. But the president is so practiced at denying basic facts that mere logic should slide off him like water off a ducktail haircut — and also not interfere with his taking credit for the in fact wise policy of helping out consumers by removing the painful tariffs he suddenly discovered someone — Sleepy Joe Biden, no doubt — has imposed on beef.The executive order that didn’t get signed was going to do other things, as well, like increase lending to ranchers, reduce protections for some species of wolves under the Endangered Species Act, and also back off requirements for ear tags for cattle and other forms of regulation. Any reduction in regulation invariably triggers accusations of a return to red-in-tooth-and-claw Dickensian laissez-faire. But regulation is always a balance of cost and benefit and there is ample evidence that in many policy areas the current ratio of cost to benefit is way out of whack. (As the Wendy’s lady might have put it: “Where’s the benefit?”)Tariff cuts, friendlier regulation and, if it’s really necessary, more favourable finance for producers are far better ways of dealing with higher prices than other interventions currently on the table. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is asking big food stores to voluntarily cap the prices of 20 staple foodstuffs whose rapid inflation her government has been incapable of halting. In many other places, politicians are thinking about getting government into the grocery business — so as to give it the user-friendliness and efficiency of the post office or tax bureau, presumably.As many deceased Iranian autocrats could attest if they were still with us, it is not the case that “Trump always chickens out” — or “TACO’s,” as the popular anti-Trump acronym puts it. (He may have done so before that mocking meme became current but not since.) So far, he is doing a beef TACO. Given time, though, he may serve up something we red-meat types find more sizzling and juicy. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.