US to lift screwworm ban on Mexican cattle to aid beef supply

The US will allow Mexican cattle imports to resume after a more than yearlong ban to prevent the spread of a deadly parasite, as the Trump administration seeks to tamp down record beef prices.

The US Department of Agriculture will start a phased reopening starting with imports at the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry beginning on Aug 24, the agency said in an e-mailed statement on July 24. Two additional ports of entry in New Mexico will begin resuming shipments later.

“Every animal entering the United States through these ports will undergo a full USDA inspection to ensure it is free of any signs of New World screwworm,” the USDA said.

The livestock trade between the two countries has been largely closed since late 2024 following the detection of the New World screwworm, a parasitic fly that can kill cattle within days if left untreated. Despite the preventive measures, the pest was detected in Texas in early June, marking the first such case in US livestock in about five decades.

“The closure of the Southern ports of entry for the last year has been a tough but necessary action to control the spread of NWS,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in the statement. “Thanks to the work across the federal government as well as state, local, and industry partners, it is now safe to reopen the Douglas, Arizona, port.”

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said she has instructed her government to “further accelerate the work and the collaboration with the US to have everything ready as soon as possible to resume the movement of cattle”, according to a post on X.

Since screwworm emerged in the US, the spread has remained relatively contained geographically, prompting calls for reopening the border as a major step toward addressing high beef prices. That is especially as the paused trade has lowered the prices Mexican ranchers receive, while raising prices for the US feedlots and meatpackers in the final stages of the beef supply chain.

“This decision will help normalise business for cattle operations throughout the border states and Southern Plains,” Colin Woodall, chief executive officer of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement.

The trade between the US and Mexico, which amounted to about one million head of cattle per year, could help ease a historic US cattle shortage and cool prices.

The Trump administration has tried repeatedly to tamp down food inflation ahead of midterm elections, including by boosting beef imports from Argentina and Brazil, but average US consumer ground beef prices have continued to top records.

The US cattle inventory as at July 1 rose modestly but remained near the lowest level in data going back about five decades, the USDA said in a report on July 24. The move is also poised to benefit domestic meat processors who have been paying higher prices to compete for scarce cattle.

A total of 42 cases of screwworm have been detected in the US, all but one in Texas, according to a USDA database. Of those, only nine are currently active. BLOOMBERG