The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) in the United States has slammed President Donald Trump's plan to import more beef, saying it would "flood the market" and "undermine American producers".
On late Friday, Mr Trump shared on social media he had "concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families".
"As we work to rebuild [the US cattle] herd and help our ranchers, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff," Mr Trump wrote.
The announcement has received plenty of backlash from the US cattle sector, including the industry's peak lobby group the NCBA.
In a statement to its members, the group urged them to "act now" against the proposal and said no cow-calf producer in America was asking for increased imports.
It said the proposal would risk "undercutting American farmers and ranchers".
"It threatens to undermine the very market conditions that are encouraging cattle producers to rebuild the American herd," NCBA said.
"After years of drought, high input costs, and shrinking inventories, strong demand for high-quality American beef is sending the right market signals for producers to reinvest and expand.
"Government intervention designed to force down prices will create long-term harm to family farms and ranches, domestic beef production, and the stability of the US cattle industry."
After years of drought, the US cattle herd is at its lowest level since the 1950s and ABC Landline has been told that 55 per cent of US cattle country remains in drought.
R-Calf USA chief executive Bill Bullard said in a statement increasing beef imports made no sense.
"Beef imports have already risen to record levels, while retail beef prices continue climbing and the US cattle herd continues shrinking," he said.
"Most importantly, this policy undermines the producer confidence necessary to rebuild the US cattle herd. Herd expansion takes years. Producers deciding whether to retain heifers today must have confidence that future cattle prices will justify that investment."
Global Agritrends analyst Simon Quilty said Brazil was perhaps "the only winner" from Mr Trump's announcement.
"Brazil is currently paying a 26.4 per cent duty, but it's questionable how much [extra beef] they could put into the United States [under this policy]," he said.
"There's really no upside for Australia, which is sending beef to the US tariff free and at about 75 per cent of our [annual quota] allocation.
Mr Quilty said a lot of details were lacking on how the US would enforce the commitment that imported beef would be sold at a 25 per cent discount to current market prices.
In its latest report for Meat and Livestock Australia, the Steiner Consulting Group said year to date the United States had imported more than 1.2 million tonnes of beef from various nations, which was up 14.5 per cent on last year.
It said Australia had been the biggest supplier, exporting more than 300,000 tonnes.
It said imported beef prices had already been slipping and it expected Australian lean beef prices were "likely to be negatively impacted" as the removal of tariffs would give "South American suppliers more flexibility to offer discounts and compete for business".
The report concluded the push to "ship as much beef as possible to the US" would "significantly distort the market", and that US beef producers would be on the "losing side".
