A worker marks a cow at the Liniers Ranch Market in the New Chicago neighborhood of Buenos Aires. This is Argentina’s largest cattle market and one of the biggest in the world to sell and buy Argentinian beef. File Photo by Cezaro De Luca/EPA
President Donald Trump is considering an unusual move in his protectionist agenda: importing Argentine beef to help contain rising domestic prices. The proposal marks a shift from his usual policy of shielding U.S. producers through tariffs.
Beef prices in the United States have climbed by up to 16% this year, with ground beef seeing some of the steepest increases. The surge is driven by drought, the smallest U.S. cattle herd in more than 70 years and rising trade tariffs.
The proposal has raised concern among U.S. ranchers, who fear it could hurt their income.
Could Argentina help bring down prices in the United States? Experts in the South American nation say that’s unlikely, citing limits in volume, quality and market structure.
José María Romero, Argentina’s former undersecretary of Livestock and Animal Production, told UPI that the quota assigned to his country is just 20,000 tons in a market that consumes more than 1.2 million a year.
“To say that buying a bit more from Argentina could stabilize domestic prices is unrealistic,” he said, noting that 20,000 tons represent less than 2% of total U.S. beef imports, far too little to influence the market.
Javier Preciado Patiño, former undersecretary of Agricultural Markets and director of RIA Consultores, agreed. “Importing from Argentina won’t help consumers access cheaper beef,” he told UPI.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States imported 1.46 million tons of beef in 2024. The main suppliers were Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Brazil.
Argentina contributed 34,174 tons, just 2.3% of the total. Increasing that quota even slightly would have an almost imperceptible effect, the experts agreed. And sending more beef to the United States would face a few barriers.
The first is capacity. Argentina already is operating at full export levels. Last year, it produced 3.2 million tons of beef, a stable volume with no sign of growth. Of that total, 30% was exported and the rest supplied the domestic market.
Also, Argentina’s domestic beef market is exceptionally strong. “We are the world’s top consumers of beef. There’s not much room to export more,” Preciado Patiño said.
He added that Argentine consumers are willing to pay high prices for beef, making it more profitable to sell locally than abroad. Without a significant increase in cattle productivity, Argentina simply does not have additional premium beef available for export without cutting into its own supply.
Another limitation is qualitative and perhaps even more decisive. Argentina produces premium, high-end beef with traceability and certifications aimed at specialized niches such as kosher and certified Angus. That specialization distances it from the mass market Washington needs to lower prices for the average consumer.
Argentina’s beef export industry has two segments: chilled beef, which is higher-value, and frozen beef, which is lower-cost and often used in industrial products, such as hamburgers. Between January and September, Argentina exported 85,371 tons of chilled beef worth $908.6 million and 436,497 tons of frozen beef worth $1.857 billion.
The average value was $10,643 per ton for chilled beef and $4,254 per ton for frozen. These figures underscore Argentina’s position as a high-end supplier rather than a source of lower-value bulk meat.
The United States accounted for 6.1% of Argentina’s chilled beef exports by volume and 6.4% by value. For frozen beef, the shares were 5.5% by volume and 8.4% by value, according to the country’s beef export report for June 2024..
“That difference is due to China’s dominant role in this segment, as it imports lower-quality, low-cost beef,” Preciado Patiño said.
“The United States is not a particularly significant market for Argentina,” the specialist said. The 20,000-ton quota allows exports of high-value cuts destined for restaurant chains, hotels or the Argentine community living in the country. Kosher certification also plays an important role.
Although exports of frozen beef have increased — from 14,000 tons in 2022 to 27,000 in 2024 — the figures remain marginal.
Tariff conditions are also unfavorable. Romero explained that Canada and Mexico face zero tariffs and unlimited quotas. Australia, with a 378,000-ton limit, also pays no duties. New Zealand, with 213,000 tons, pays only 4.4 cents per kilogram.
Argentina and Uruguay, in addition to paying tariffs, are restricted to 20,000 tons. That disadvantage makes them less competitive in serving the U.S. mass market.
Weighing those figures, Romero said Argentina’s 20,000-ton quota is practically insignificant in the U.S. market and within Argentina’s total exports.
If the Trump administration is looking for an effective solution, analysts suggest looking to Brazil.
“Experts in both countries see a greater potential impact if the additional tariff on Brazilian imports were lifted, since Brazil is a major player in terms of volume and supply,” Romero said.
“Brazil could ship between 220,000 and 250,000 tons in 2026, far more than any agreement with Argentina could offer,” he said, adding that suchvolume could actually influence consumer prices.
Another option would be to reallocate portions of existing quotas to third markets, as Washington did with the United Kingdom. However, that would limit shipments from other countries and wouldn’t address the underlying issue.
And even if the White House removed Argentina’s tariff, it could prompt similar demands from other nations, creating a new diplomatic and trade dispute.
