Good news, burger lovers. Help is on the way. Last month, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he has “concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef.” Well, it’s about time. As someone who covers the barbecue beat, I’ve been keeping a close eye on beef prices the past few years, especially brisket. They’ve kept going up. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of ground beef nationwide has risen 24 percent, from $5.55 per pound in January 2025 to $6.89 this summer.
Fortunately, that’s about to change – and just in time for football tailgating season. President Trump announced that for 90 days, which is to say until just after the midterm elections in November, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported with greatly reduced tariffs. “We have a commitment,” Trump declared, “that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.”
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, an unnamed White House official told the New York Times the 25 percent discount was a deal struck with “foreign beef exporters.” The details are sketchy and confusing. Why would foreign exporters discount their prices when the importers pay the tariff? How does the government guarantee those discounts get passed on to consumers? And how much can they move the needle in just 90 days?
