Mexico’s government is pressing for a deal to resume live-cattle exports to the United States after a months-long shutdown over a screwworm outbreak, according to a report posted by RFD-TV.. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegué will travel to Washington in the near future to meet with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in hopes of reopening the border, which has been closed to live cattle imports since May due to cases of New World Screwworm being found as close as 70 miles from the US Border.
Sheinbaum said her country has contained the flesh-eating parasite in the northern state of Nuevo León, though U.S. officials remain cautious. The screwworm, a pest that infests warm-blooded animals, has spread north from Panama since 2022 and was reported to be found in southern Mexico in November 2024, threatening livestock and straining U.S.–Mexico trade ties. Secretary Rollins has publicly criticized Mexico’s handling of the outbreak, citing ongoing risks to U.S. herds.
One US Official who is supportive of a possible reopening is Texas Commissioner of Ag Sid Miller. In a news release this past week- he offered five points that he contends would improve on Secretary Rollin’s plan to help the US cattle industry- and one of those points was to “Allow Targeted Imports of Live Mexican Cattle to Stabilize Supply.”
Miller says “The quickest way to reduce beef prices and do it within 24 hours, is to import feeder cattle instead of boxed beef. Normally, about 15 percent of our feeder cattle come from Mexico, but shipments have been backed up for almost a year, creating shortages. As we enter the Mexican feeder cattle season (November to February), we can safely reopen ports of entry in a controlled, incremental way without risking the spread of pests like the screwworm fly. A measured, well-thought-out approach to live cattle imports will stabilize supplies while protecting U.S. biosecurity.”
In a typical year, the U.S. imports about 1.17 million head of cattle from Mexico (roughly 60 percent of all U.S. live-cattle imports). Last year was even bigger: 1.25 million head valued at around $1.3 billion.
This year, with the mid-May halt in place, imports are running hundreds of thousands of head below 2024 levels—industry tallies estimate 600,000 fewer head year-to-date—leaving feedyards short of traditional supplies. Analysts warn that the disruption is driving up beef prices in the U.S. and placing financial strain on the domestic feeding industry.
