Kate Acland From Beef and Lamb Said It Is Too Soon to Judge Whether the Announcement Will Lower Beef Prices in New Zealand

New Zealand's export meat sector says it is unclear what implications US President Donald Trump's latest tariff announcement will have for the country, as the industry waits for more details on the deal. Kate Acland from Beef and Lamb said it is too soon to judge whether the announcement will lower beef prices. Usually, countries which exceed their usual import levels face a heavy tariff of just over 26 percent.

It has not yet been announced which countries will be included in the deal. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that his administration has secured a commitment that imported beef will be sold at 25 percent below current US market prices. Acland said New Zealand already has excellent meat access into the US and is currently tariff-free.

We sell a lot of lean beef trim into there, so it's an important market for what could otherwise be a lower value product but it's also a really important market for some of our competitors like Brazil and Australia who don't enjoy quite the same access into the US. She said if Brazil benefited from the tariff change, it would have the potential to have a slight downward impact on prices. Exporters will have to wait for more details to be released.