Trump signs controversial beef import plan despite ranchers' backlash

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday that aims to lower ground beef prices by dramatically boosting imports from other countries — despite outrage from Republicans and the administration's allies in the beef industry.

Trump's proclamation will remove tariffs from 300,000 metric tons of imported lean beef trimmings for 90 days. He said the countries supplying the beef would sell it at 25 percent below current market prices, as he first announced on Truth Social Friday.

The administration is also eyeing a separate group of industry-friendly policy updates to roll out alongside the import plan, in hopes of quelling wrath from the beef industry and some Republican lawmakers, according to two people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity to discuss them. Many of the industry's demands — like mandating country-of-origin labels on beef products sold in the U.S. — would take congressional action.

Trump's proclamation does not specify which countries will supply the beef imports, as questions have swirled from consumers and industry leaders about which countries even have the supply of trimmings to export in the short term. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Tuesday that she was not "privy" to that information and that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was working closely with Trump on the details of the imports.

Trump said he could also halt the increased imports if beef prices don't come down or if countries do not sell at a 25 percent discount the president said he had negotiated.

"If the action taken in this proclamation does not result in a lower sale price of imported ground beef, I may end the action taken in this proclamation in order to, among other things, prevent a windfall to foreign producers," Trump's proclamation said.