How Much More Your McDonald’s Big Mac Will Be Due To Trump’s Tariffs on Beef Imports
Written by
Travis Woods
Edited by
Angela Corry
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President Donald Trump has had a uniquely close relationship with the fast food chain McDonald’s. As Business Insider noted in 2017, Trump’s regular order at Mickey D’s is famously a 2,430-calorie combo of two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fishes and a large chocolate milkshake.
To put it mildly, the American president is a big fan of the golden arches.
As such, it is somewhat ironic that one of Trump’s most controversial economic policies of his second term — the implementation of tariffs upon America’s trade partners — will likely lead to price hikes at McDonald’s, potentially damaging the fast food chain’s business and relationship with its customers.
In April of 2025, on what Trump called “Liberation Day,” the president announced a blanket 10% tariff on all imports coming to America from all of its trade partners. After a flurry of criticism, he announced that he would institute a 90-day tariff pause so that the nations of the world could attempt to negotiate a better deal with the United States. That pause is set to end on July 8, and with the end of that pause will come a wave of tariffs hitting America’s trade partners — including Australia, a significant beef-importing nation, per The Mirror US.
As Farmers for Climate Action has reported, 70% of Australian beef is exported to the rest of the world, with much of it going to McDonald’s. If a 10% tariff is place on the beef, McDonald’s will likely be forced to raise their prices to counter act the Trump-driven tax. Currently, a Big Mac costs $7.99. By raising the price of the popular cheeseburger by just 10%, the Big Mac would jump to at least $8.78 — that’s an increase of nearly a dollar.
If additional tariffs are placed upon Australia and beef-importing nations, it’s within the realm of possibility that 2025 would be known, among other things, as the summer of the $9 Big Mac.
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