Joesley Batista, one of the controlling shareholders of JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, asked President Donald Trump to scrap the 26% tariff on Brazilian beef in an Oval Office meeting on August 20. The meeting is described in a report by The Wall Street Journal published on Monday (Aug. 31), which the Brazilian outlets Folha de S.Paulo and G1 republished. A day after the conversation, Trump announced on social media a plan to temporarily allow more imported beef into the United States without tariffs, a measure later formalized in a decree.
According to people familiar with the matter cited by the newspaper, the two men discussed how a larger supply of Brazilian beef could help bring down US retail prices if the tariff were eliminated. Trump said the imported products would sell at a 25% discount to market prices. The Journal wrote that it could not determine who arranged the meeting. On the same day, August 21, the Brazilian government said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke with Trump by phone for 80 minutes about tariffs, the fight against organized crime and world conflicts.
Why beef weighs on Trump
Rising beef prices have become a political problem for Trump, who promised to cut the cost of living in the United States. Opening the market to imports angered US cattle ranchers and drew criticism from Republican lawmakers, especially those in tight races in rural districts ahead of the midterm elections. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the industry's main trade group, said the government intervention would only hurt producers and make long-term stability harder for the beef industry.
From slaughterhouse to the US market
The Journal links the episode to JBS's broader position in the United States. Pilgrim's Pride, the country's second-largest chicken processor and majority-owned by JBS, gave US$5 million to Trump's inauguration, making it the event's largest donor, according to the paper. The Justice Department is investigating the four largest US meat processors, JBS among them, over possible anticompetitive practices. The companies deny wrongdoing and are losing money as American cattle becomes more expensive to process: Tyson Foods and JBS have closed plants after losing hundreds of millions of dollars in beef processing.
For JBS, importing more Brazilian product would expand its share of the American market. Brazil shipped about US$1.5 billion in beef to the United States in the first half of this year, up 10% from the same period a year earlier, according to US Department of Agriculture data. The company, which employs about 280,000 people in more than 20 countries and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2025, told the paper it has "a long history of participation in the civic process and of creating opportunities to offer safe and affordable food to American families".
The decree spreads its effects across both ends of the supply chain. In Brazil, meatpackers and ranchers gain wider access to the world's largest consumer market, which is now subject to the 26% tariff. In the United States, consumers may see beef get cheaper, as Trump has promised, while local ranchers fear pressure on cattle prices, a concern already voiced in the industry group's criticism of the measure.