Duke Phillips III ranchers prepare to rope a calf during final branding at Chico Basin Ranch in Hanover, Colorado, June 29, 2024.
Helene H. Richardson | Media GroupNews | The Denver Post | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that U.S. cattle producers “don’t understand” how they benefited from his tariffs, adding that they “have to lower their prices.”
The warning comes after some ranchers openly criticized Trump’s proposal to import beef from Argentina in order to lower prices for American consumers.
Trump said these ranchers “don’t understand that the only reason they’re doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put tariffs on cattle coming into the United States.”
He pointed to the 50% tariffs he imposed in early August on imports from Brazil, a major seller of beef to the United States.
“Without me, they would do exactly what they have been doing for 20 years: Terrible!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social article.
“It would be good if they understood this, but they also have to lower their prices, because the consumer is also a very important factor in my thinking!” he added.
Beef prices in the United States have generally increased since last year, and some products, such as boneless sirloin steaks, have climbed by double-digit percentages, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration was “looking at doing” a deal with Argentina where “we would buy beef” from the South American nation.
“If we do that, it will drive down the prices of our beef,” he said.
The comments drew sharp rebukes from U.S. cattle producers.
“This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of year for America’s cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower prices at grocery stores,” Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement Monday.
In response to Trump’s Truth Social message released Wednesday, Woodall said his organization “cannot support the president as he jeopardizes the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentine beef in an effort to influence prices.”
“It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let livestock markets operate,” Woodall said.
At least one Republican senator, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, openly rejected Trump’s proposal.
“Government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle producers,” she wrote in an X article on Tuesday.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Tuesday that “a lot” of Republican senators have told Trump they don’t want Argentine beef imported into the United States.
The United States’ financial relations with Argentina have come under scrutiny after the Trump administration agreed to a $20 billion currency swap deal to help stabilize the country’s faltering economy. Trump is a close ally of Argentine President Javier Milei, whose aggressive deregulation efforts have been praised by American conservatives.
U.S. soybean farmers and their advocates ended Buenos Aires’ financial lifeline because China, a major buyer of the staple crop, shifted its operations from the United States to Argentina amid Trump’s trade war.
Argentina, in a move that coincided with Trump’s pledge to help Milei, suspended export taxes last month.
“Why would the US help bail out Argentina when they are taking over the biggest market from US soybean farmers???” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote about X at the time.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., when asked Wednesday morning about Trump’s plan to buy Argentine beef, said there had been some developments “over the last 24 hours.”
“The White House doesn’t want unintended consequences.” » Johnson said.
— CNBC Mary Catherine Wellons And Emily Wilkins contributed to this report.
