New Zealand's beef industry is confident of its necessity in the United States, despite the likelihood of tariffs from the Trump administration

The US has surpassed China as our biggest beef export and a Rabobank quarterly report shows it will continue to dominate exports this year.

RaboResearch senior agricultural analyst Jen Corkran says tariffs could be on their way for New Zealand beef - but the US needs us to supply their demand.

She says tariffs on our products would just result in higher prices for American consumers, because there's no local substitue.