ASI Supports Trump Administration Tariffs on Imported Lamb
April 4, 2025
The American Sheep Industry Association applauds the implementation of a 10-percent tariff on imports from Australia and New Zealand, as announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday during his Make America Wealthy Again press conference in the White House Rose Garden.
ASI offered strong support for the plan in March during the association’s annual fly-in to Washington, D.C., with 50 sheep producer leaders meeting with federal trade officials and a hundred U.S congressional offices. A top message of the sheep industry was to ensure imported lamb meat was included. In 2024, 309.3 million pounds of lamb were imported – 99 percent of which came from Australia and New Zealand – setting a record high and representing a nearly 30-percent surge in pounds of imported meat. Both foreign importers trade at nearly a 40-percent discount to the U.S. dollar, allowing them to undercut American lamb producers.
“Ten percent is a good first step and we welcome the opportunity the president has provided to gauge if that level of ad valorem tariff is sufficient to curb the surge of frozen lamb unloading at American ports,” said ASI President Ben Lehfeldt of Montana. “Our main competitors flooded the U.S. market by an additional 30 percent in 2024. Predatory imports must be countered with every tool in the toolbox. ASI contacted all of the American lamb meat companies throughout March asking for business data to evaluate filing a formal trade case. We plan to continue that path while monitoring the trade reaction to President Trump’s reciprocal tariff implementation.”
The disadvantage American sheep producers find themselves in while competing against foreign products imported into the United States is exactly the type of problem President Trump was looking to solve on what he referred to as Liberation Day. He addressed how foreign nations have continually taken advantage of the United States and implemented the tariffs to deliver prosperity to American workers and industries by leveling the playing field.
Source: ASI
