Beef Is the New Eggs
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Beef Is the New Eggs
by Chris Truax
Donald Trump campaigned on making prices go down “quickly.” So why are all his policies aimed at making prices go up?
Take beef prices , for example. Since the beginning of the year, the price of hamburger is up about 9 percent. Steaks have gone up even more. Those are the official numbers. As a practical matter, it seems much worse than that when you’re in the grocery store. At least in Southern California, if you can find hamburger for $5.99 a pound, that’s a good deal—and it never seems to go on sale anymore.
The Trump administration is doing everything it can to make this worse. Trump is imposing a 35 percent tariff on beef from Canada and a 30 percent tariff on beef from Mexico, countries from which we imported 1.6 billion pounds of beef in 2024.
And Trump just announced a trade deal that will lift Australian restrictions on importing American beef. To quote Trump, “We are going to sell so much [beef] to Australia,” which, of course, will drive up the price of beef here at home. In other words, Trump just made a deal that will make Americans pay more for beef so that Australians can pay less. So much for America first.
But the biggest slap in the face for American consumers is his decision to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports to punish the country for trying to hold its ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, responsible for attempting a coup. America imported almost 700 million pounds of beef from Brazil in 2024 so Trump’s “Free Bolsonaro!” tariff will drive up American beef prices even further. Forget taking away healthcare from poor people to give tax breaks to billionaires—Trump is spending my food budget to help sketchy Brazilian politicians.
Not everybody is upset about this, though. I’m sure the four companies that control 85 percent of the American beef market are ecstatic. Trump’s beef policies, which increase demand and decrease supply, will mean more profits for them but much higher prices for consumers.
If Trump cared about consumers instead of corporate profits, there are things he could do about beef prices. At the very least, he ought to declare zero tariffs on beef imports. He should certainly stop demanding other countries buy American beef. While export tariffs are unconstitutional , Trump could push to ban all beef exports. That would sound like a radical step except that the United States had the same policy in place for crude oil for four decades, and for precisely the same reason.
As issues go, this sounds like a perfect storm for Democrats, providing they can resist the urge to lecture everyone about how high beef prices are really being caused by climate change. The question isn’t why beef prices have gone up over the last year, it’s why Trump is adopting policies that make the situation worse instead of better.
Beef is the new eggs. It’s a pocketbook issue that is forcing people to change their consumption habits. Democrats should be taking every opportunity to tie those price increases to Trump and his policies. There is no one thing that is going to tank his approval rating. But “I can’t afford steak and it’s Donald Trump’s fault” is a pretty good start.
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I dont eat a lot of beef and when I do it is usually ground ,for spaghetti sauce, or I make a patty to have with a couple eggs.
Ground beef at Walmart is at least 5 dollars a pound and up depending on what level of fat you are good with.
domestic beef that's available to american consumers might as well be lab grown with the chemical contents listed ...