Cattle and Sheep Producers Welcome Tariffs
“Since zero tariffs for cattle and beef went into effect between the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 1994, the U.S. has lost about 285,000 beef cattle farms and ranches, our national cattle herd has shrunk by about 6.5 million mother cows, and we’ve eliminated over 87,000 farmer feeders from our domestic supply chain’s marketing outlets.”
Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
R-CALF USA welcomes the 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican beef and cattle, and we want more. Here’s why:
For decades now we’ve argued that free trade, meaning when tariffs are reduced to zero, was harming American farmers and ranchers, particularly cattle and sheep farmers and ranchers. Our logical arguments against free trade included that many foreign countries had lower wages, lower production standards, relaxed environmental standards, and weaker currencies. We argued that each of these advantages give foreign countries an inherent pricing advantage over domestic producers. But our logical arguments were simply dismissed based on the theoretical underpinnings of free trade. The free trade architects simply said none of that really mattered, that America can outcompete anyone and would come out on top in a zero-tariff world.
What wishful thinking that was!
Since zero tariffs for cattle and beef went into effect between the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 1994, the U.S. has lost about 285,000 beef cattle farms and ranches, our national cattle herd has shrunk by about 6.5 million mother cows, and we’ve eliminated over 87,000 farmer feeders from our domestic supply chain’s marketing outlets.
What zero tariffs did was allow global importers to displace domestic farmers and ranchers, domestic cattle, and domestic cattle feeding opportunities with cheaper imports and this has resulted in the alarming contraction of our domestic beef supply chain.
Zero tariffs threaten our national security by dismantling our domestic food supply chain and by forcing Americans to become more and more dependent on foreign supply chains for such important staples as beef and lamb.
Zero tariffs on lamb and mutton have all but destroyed our nation’s commercial sheep industry. While the cattle industry has been shrinking for decades, the sheep industry is nearing the loss of the critical infrastructure needed to produce even 30% of the lamb meat consumed in America. In less than a generation, the sheep industry has lost nearly five million sheep from the U.S. sheep herd, lost over half of our full-time domestic sheep producers, and our nonglobal domestic lamb packing plants are struggling to survive as there aren’t enough domestic lambs available to keep their packing plants running at economical levels.
Cattle producers and decision makers should take a close, critical look at the sheep industry, the industry we view as the cattle industry’s canary in the coal mine. Like the cattle industry, the sheep industry has shrunk in terms of its number of producers, number of sheep, and number of marketing outlets. And even though sheep numbers are at the lowest level in history, lamb prices have been erratic and falling and remain too low to incentivize herd expansion.
How can that be? The reason of course is that domestic sheep production is fast being displaced with cheaper imports from Australia, so much so that the U.S. sheep producer now only maintains 30% of the domestic market, with imports maintaining a 70% share. So, the sheep industry is the first livestock sector in America to succumb almost completely to price depressing imports.
Now look at the cattle industry. Our domestic cattle herd has been declining in size for decades – due to prolonged periods of low prices, the reduction of cattle grazing on federally managed rangeland, and rising imports. Most recently there was a widespread drought, which accelerated the decline in the U.S. cattle herd, but it wasn’t the reason the herd has been in decline for decades. A look at what’s left of the cattle industry’s cattle cycle reveals that since 1996, the herd size at the peak of each rebuilding phase of the cattle cycle remained millions of head fewer than each previous peak, meaning our herd size is on a long-term, downward trajectory.
Even though the nation’s herd size is historically small, the domestic cattle industry is not rebuilding as expected in the face of high prices. And why is this?
Just look at the record beef imports in 2024. In 2024, beef imports alone (not including the beef derived from imported live cattle) were more than 37% higher than the previous five-year beef import average.
And this is why we fully support the 25% tariffs on imports of beef and cattle from Canada and Mexico; and why we want both tariffs and tariff rate quotas on imports of lamb and mutton from Australia and New Zealand.
We can no longer pretend that our domestic cattle and sheep industries will somehow prosper when global importers are continually allowed to leverage down domestic livestock prices by satisfying increased consumer demand for beef and lamb with cheaper imports. This is a recipe for weakening America’s food security.
America needs more cattle and sheep farmers and ranchers and more cattle and sheep. Tariffs and tariff rate quotas are the economic tool that will incentivize domestic market forces to make this happen.
