TO COUNTER recent rises in the cost of meat, I have today directed removal of all restrictions on meat imports for the balance of 1972.
Prices of meat have been rising because increased demands have not been matched by increased supplies. This action is designed to increase the supply of meat.
Increased supplies from abroad will not have an immediate effect in reducing prices in the supermarkets, but this action will definitely help in the future.
In the meantime, I intend to take whatever further measures are necessary to prevent increases in the cost of food.
Note: The President's remarks were filmed in the Family Theater at the White House for later broadcast on radio and television.
On the same day, the White House released a fact sheet and the transcript of a news briefing on suspension of restrictions on meat imports. Participants in the news briefing were George P. Shultz, Secretary of the Treasury, Raymond A. Ioanes, Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service, Department of Agriculture, and Julius L. Katz, Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Resources and Food Policy, Department of State.
On June 29, 1972, the President signed Executive Order 11674 extending economic stabilization controls to unprocessed agricultural products after the first sale. On the same day, the White House released the following related material: a fact sheet, the text of a Cost of Living Council regulation, and a statement and the transcript of a news briefing by Donald Rumsfeld, Counsellor to the President and Director, Cost of Living Council. Mr. Rumsfeld's statement is printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 8, p. 1110).
On June 30, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing by Secretary Shultz and Mr. Rumsfeld on the President's meeting with the Cost of Living Council to discuss meat imports and stabilization of food prices.
On July 7, the White House released the transcript of a news briefing by Secretary Shultz and Herbert Stein, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, on a meeting with food industry representatives to discuss further actions to stabilize food prices.
Richard Nixon, Remarks on Suspending Restrictions on Meat Imports. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/254599
