By Patrick Thomas, Wall Street Journal

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal and on Dow Jones news service. DTN reporters are working to verify the information with USDA independently.

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(Dow Jones) -- The Agriculture Department is lifting a more than yearlong ban on Mexican cattle imports, a move that could ease soaring beef prices.

The U.S. plans to resume importing Mexican cattle at the port of entry in Douglas, Arizona, in 30 days and eventually open two additional ports of entry in New Mexico.

Mexico typically sends about a million calves across the border each year, accounting for roughly 5% of the cattle processed in the U.S. Cattle imports had been cut off since last year to stem the spread of the flesh-eating New World screwworm.

The loss of those cattle has exacerbated a shortage of livestock that has squeezed meatpackers and sent prices for ground beef and steaks to record levels. Retail ground-beef prices are close to $7 a pound on average, while sirloin steaks are more than $14 a pound, according to government data.

The move to reopen the border is contentious, with U.S. ranchers concerned about the spread of a parasite with a history of thinning herds and raising costs. Meanwhile, meat-industry officials said opening the border is safe and one of the quickest ways to ease beef prices and relieve financial pressure on cattle production in the Southwest.

Trump administration officials are under pressure to convince Americans that they are taking steps to tame inflation. Agriculture Department Secretary Brooke Rollins said the border decision was made primarily with the protection of U.S. herds in mind but added that the prospect of increased supply could help the market.

"We have been trading with Mexico live cattle for a really, really long time. The border states rely on it, and we're at a low herd number," Rollins said in an interview. "It is time to safely open."

Importing cattle into the U.S. from Mexican ranches has occurred for more than a century. The imported livestock are fattened in U.S. feed yards before being transported to large slaughterhouses that process them into beef.

The border was closed to cattle imports in November 2024 after the flesh-eating screwworm was detected in southern Mexico. The Trump administration temporarily resumed imports a few months later but has restricted the cattle trade since May of last year to keep the fly from spreading in the U.S.

The parasitic fly had been absent from the U.S. since the 1960s. But in June, agriculture officials identified it in a three-week-old Texas calf. Dozens of U.S. cases have been confirmed since then, with the fly appearing on cattle and other animals. All the cases have been reported in Texas except for one involving a dog in New Mexico.

Rollins said the border closure gave the agency time to increase construction of sterile-fly facilities, improve surveillance for the parasite along the border and improve the layers of screening that imported cattle go through. For example, Mexican cattle will move through a disinfectant dip vat when entering a U.S. port of entry. Female screwworm flies only mate once, so sterile male flies help suppress the parasite's population. Rollins said the situation is now under control.

Processors and ranchers in the American Southwest are under intense financial pressure as a result of the existing cattle shortage and lack of imports.

Reopening the border is "the biggest thing that can happen in the short term" to change the beef supply, said Wesley Batista Filho, chief executive of JBS's U.S. division, at The Wall Street Journal's Global Food Forum last month.

Some ranchers, including the cattle-trade group R-Calf, which has gained favor among top Trump administration officials, have argued against reopening the border. Bill Bullard, the head of R-Calf, said the border should stay shut until the parasite is completely eradicated to protect American cattle.

"This is a real threat to U.S. livestock," he has said. The Trump administration has taken other steps to lower the price of beef. The Justice Department has launched an antitrust probe of the nation's largest meatpackers and announced plans to provide funding to boost smaller meatpacking operations.

Officials from the USDA have called on America's top supermarkets to lower the prices of beef sold to consumers.

Write to Patrick Thomas at patrick.thomas@wsj.com

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