For Immediate Release: July 22, 2026
Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
Please find below R-CALF USA’s weekly opinion/commentary that discusses the request by the Trade Ambassador to the U.S. International Trade Commission to initiate an investigation into increased lamb imports. It is in three formats: written, audio and video. Anyone is welcome to use it for broadcasting or reporting.
Persistence Pays
Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
It was over three years ago that R-CALF USA began working with western sheep producers to identify solutions with which to reverse the long-term contraction of America’s sheep industry. And now, three years later, the solutions we identified are coming to fruition.
United States Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer recently sent a letter to David Johanson, chairman of the of the U.S. International Trade Commission, stating this:
I request that the United States International Trade Commission promptly initiate an investigation under section 202 of the Trade Act [of 1974] to determine whether lamb meat is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive products.
The ambassador’s request is limited to lamb meat, so the investigation won’t include live sheep or lambs, or mutton. So, the focus will be exclusively on lamb meat.
The ambassador’s letter to the USITC goes on to say that lamb imports from around the world have increased in recent years and that information suggests that these imports resulted in lost sales, lost revenues and lost market share as imported lamb meat undersold domestic lamb meat. He also states that information suggests firms have exited the domestic industry entirely, resulting in domestic industry job losses, decreased capacity utilization rates and struggles to maintain profitability.
This is a significant development in the right direction. It’s been over a quarter century since the U.S. attempted to address the rising volume of debilitating imports from Australia and New Zealand. A quota limit was once in effect, but Australia’s significantly weaker currency made its exports to the U.S. profitable even after paying a 40% over-quota tariff rate in 1999. But the tariff-rate quota was lifted after only a couple of years, leaving the U.S. sheep industry at the mercy of ever-rising imports of cheap lamb from Australia and New Zealand.
The American sheep industry was already declining when the temporary tariff-rate quota was put in place and then soon lifted. Over the past 40 years, millions of sheep were purged from America’s sheep flock, and today America’s sheep inventory is the lowest in history. And with the sheep went 60% of America’s full-time sheep producers. Unsurprisingly, domestic lamb production likewise fell by 60%.
The deterioration of America’s sheep industry didn’t happen because Americans lost their appetite for lamb; indeed, it happened even while domestic lamb consumption was increasing. This is a classic depiction of market failure – consumption was increasing while domestic production was decreasing.
The reason for this, of course, was that ever-rising imports of cheaper lamb meat were displacing America’s sheep flock, sheep producers and production capacity. Last year, over 73% of the lamb consumed in America was imported.
When we first filed our petition with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in August of 2023, we were convinced then that rising imports from Australia and New Zealand were destroying America’s sheep industry and the rural communities they supported, and something needed to be done to begin managing those imports.
Sheep producers from across the West rallied to save their industry and joined with R-CALF USA to initiate a formal investigation into the cause of their industry’s demise. Together, we advocated for an investigation through calls and letters to Congress and the administration, and numerous trips to Washington, D.C., to impress upon decision-makers just how serious America’s sheep crisis had become.
Their years-long effort has now borne fruit, and, triggered by the trade ambassador’s recent letter, a thorough, probing investigation will now be conducted.
Should the investigation go as we hope it will, and the USITC finds that lamb meat is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury to our domestic sheep industry, the trade ambassador, with the president’s concurrence, can impose tariffs and tariff-rate quotas to eliminate the injury.
We have a lot to learn about the investigative process now underway, and we will endeavor to keep you informed as developments occur. This is a historic opportunity to reverse the decades-long contraction of our domestic sheep industry that produces one of our nation’s most important dietary proteins – which, of course, is American lamb.
We sincerely hope America will rally behind America’s sheep producers to protect American lamb. We’ll let you know when and how you can help.
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R-CALF USA’s weekly opinion/commentary educates and informs both consumers and producers about timely issues important to the U.S. cattle and sheep industries and rural America.
Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only trade association in the United States. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or call 406-252-2516.