Argentina Left Out of Expanded US Beef Quota, Brazil Gains
Argentina · TRADE
Key Facts
- —Instrument Trump signed the beef proclamation on 26 August 2026 in Washington.
- —Volume The US beef quota rises by 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings.
- —Timing Three tranches of 100,000 tonnes run from 1 September to 30 November.
- —Excluded Argentina, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand hold country allocations and cannot use it.
- —Included Brazil and Paraguay ship under the shared other countries line and qualify.
Washington’s extra 300,000 tonnes are open only to suppliers without country allocations, and Brazil is first in line.
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on 26 August that lifts the US beef quota by 300,000 metric tons. Argentina cannot touch the extra volume, because the whole increase goes to countries without their own allocations.
What the proclamation actually says
The White House published the text on 26 August 2026 under the title Further Ensuring Affordable Beef for the American Consumer. It raises the calendar-2026 in-quota volume for beef by 300,000 metric tons.
The authority cited is section 404 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which lets a president widen a tariff-rate quota temporarily. A tariff-rate quota, or TRQ, charges a low duty up to a volume and a high one above it.
The extra tonnage covers only lean beef trimmings under four statistical lines of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Those trimmings are blended with fatty domestic beef to make ground beef.
Customs will fill the volume first come, first served, in three tranches of 100,000 tonnes. They open on 1 September, 1 October and 31 October, ending no later than 30 November.
Why Argentina cannot use the new US beef quota
Clause four of the proclamation allocates the entire 300,000 tonnes to the line called other countries or areas. That single sentence is what leaves Argentina outside the new US beef quota.
Argentina, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand each hold country-specific allocations, so none of them sits in that shared line. The United Kingdom won its own 13,000-tonne allocation on 1 January 2026.
Clause eight is explicit that the new volume does not touch the extra amount already allocated to Argentina. That wording confirms the exclusion rather than softening it.
Víctor Tonelli, a livestock market consultant in Buenos Aires, said the design looks tailor-made for Brazil. He added that Argentina, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand simply could not take part.
What Argentina already had on the table
Proclamation 11010 of 6 February 2026 added 80,000 tonnes of lean beef trimmings for Argentina this calendar year. That sits on top of a standing allocation of 20,000 tonnes.
Argentine access therefore totals about 100,000 tonnes in 2026, released in four quarterly tranches of 20,000 tonnes. Tonelli said the country still has a large volume left to ship.
Shipments to the United States reached 67,118 tonnes between January and July 2026, against 22,183 tonnes a year earlier. Argentina sent 42,445 tonnes in all of 2025, its highest since 1999.
Mario Ravettino, who chairs the Consorcio de Exportadores de Carnes Argentinas, said his group was still studying the text. Tonelli argued the exclusion would not cause any particular disturbance at home.
Why Brazil is the obvious winner
Brazil ships under the shared other countries line, which was cut to 52,005 tonnes for 2026 after the British allocation. It filled that volume within six days of January.
Everything Brazil sold after that paid the out-of-quota duty of 26.4 percent. The new US beef quota suspends that penalty for up to 300,000 tonnes.
Fernando Henrique Iglesias of the consultancy Safras and Mercado expects Brazil to take 30 to 40 percent of the window. That would mean 90,000 to 120,000 tonnes in three months.
Washington also dropped a separate 40 percent surcharge on Brazilian beef in November 2025. Paraguay ships under the same shared line and can compete for the new tonnage.
The discount condition attached to the tonnage
The proclamation tells the Department of Agriculture and the United States Trade Representative, or USTR, to watch resale prices. They must check whether the imports sell 25 percent below the market price for lean trimmings.
If they do not, the two agencies must notify the president, who may cancel what is left. That clause is aimed at preventing a windfall for foreign producers.
The Associação Brasileira das Indústrias Exportadoras de Carnes, known as ABIEC, called the gains limited for that reason. It said the required 25 percent discount caps any immediate margin improvement.
US ranchers object to the extra imports
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, or NCBA, said it was disappointed by the president’s statement. Chief executive Colin Woodall warned that cheap imports undercut the slow rebuilding of the national herd.
The United States Cattlemen’s Association was blunter, saying you do not put America first by putting cattle producers last. Its president, Justin Tupper, signed that statement on 21 August.
Bill Bullard, chief executive of R-CALF USA, said imports double down on a failed strategy. The group’s full name is Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America.
Cattle futures fell on 21 August, the day Trump first announced the plan. The NCBA said markets turned sharply lower that morning, to the detriment of farmers and ranchers.
The price problem behind the decision
Ground beef averaged US$6.885 a pound in July 2026 in the official United States consumer price survey. That is up from US$6.254 in July 2025.
The proclamation says the United States herd has fallen to its lowest level in 75 years. It adds that Agriculture Department data pointed to early herd growth in July 2026.
Washington also blames import curbs on Mexican cattle, imposed to keep out the New World screwworm. The same department forecasts beef output about 4 percent below 2025.
The extra 300,000 tonnes equals roughly 3 percent of United States beef demand, by one trade estimate. It is close to 15 percent of everything the country imported in 2025.
What to watch in the next three months
The first tranche opens on 1 September, and traders will see quickly whether Brazilian trimmings dominate the queue. Filling it fast would confirm the reading that the new US beef quota was built for Brazil.
The second signal is the resale price test, which the administration can use to end the measure early. Buenos Aires exporters will also watch whether their own quarterly tranches keep filling.
Nothing in the text suggests Argentina will be added later, and the proclamation protects its separate allocation instead. Exporters in Buenos Aires said only that they were still studying the document.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries can use the new quota?
Any supplier inside the other countries or areas line, chiefly Brazil and Paraguay. Countries with their own allocations, including Argentina and Uruguay, cannot.
Is the extra beef really tariff-free?
It enters at the low in-quota rate rather than the 26.4 percent charged above the quota. Congressional researchers put that in-quota duty at US$44 a tonne.
How much can Argentina still ship to the United States?
Argentina holds about 100,000 tonnes of access in 2026, and had shipped 67,118 tonnes by July. The new US beef quota does not change that figure.
Sources
- www.whitehouse.gov
- www.whitehouse.gov
- www.federalregister.gov
- www.everycrsreport.com
- kpmg.com
- www.perfil.com
- www.cronista.com
- www.lanacion.com.ar
- www.iprofesional.com
- www.apea.org.ar
- www.cnnbrasil.com.br
- www.canalrural.com.br
- vanguardadonorte.com.br
- www.argusmedia.com
- www.beefmagazine.com
- www.r-calfusa.com
- www.dtnpf.com
- fred.stlouisfed.org
- www.riotimesonline.com
- www.riotimesonline.com
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