Surprise! The United States enabled an additional 80,000 tons for importing beef from Argentina, but they will not be premium cuts but

Published Feb 9, 2026

Tridge summary

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed a proclamation that enables an additional quota of 80,000 tons of beef for Argentina through 2026, although with a key clarification that changes the reading of the announcement: it is not about traditional cuts or premium products but exclusively lean beef trimmings intended to be mixed with local production to make ground beef and, above all, hamburgers. “What is sought is to mix our lean meat with theirs that has excess fat,” commented an exporter visibly disappointed with the measure. The official document itself makes it clear that the goal is to ensure the supply of ground beef for the domestic U.S. market. It points out that among the products the United States imports are “lean trimmings, which are mixed with fattier domestic trimmings to produce ground beef, such as hamburgers.”

Original content

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that enables an additional quota of 80,000 metric tons of beef for Argentina by 2026, although with a key clarification that changes the reading of the announcement: it is not about traditional cuts or premium products but exclusively lean beef trimmings intended to be mixed with local production to make ground beef and, above all, hamburgers. “What is sought is to mix our lean beef with theirs that has excess fat,” commented an exporter visibly disappointed with the measure. The official document itself makes it clear that the objective is to ensure the supply of ground beef for the domestic U.S. market. It states that among the products the U.S. imports are “lean trimmings, which are mixed with fatter domestic trimmings to produce ground beef, such as hamburgers.” The measure was formalized through a presidential proclamation in which Trump argues that the country is facing a reduction in the cattle herd and a sustained increase ...

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