American ranchers, a longstanding bloc of support for President Trump, are voicing frustration over his plan to increase imports of beef from Argentina.
Beef prices are at record highs, and the president is seeking ways to lower the cost of burgers and steaks for the average shopper. Last week, Mr. Trump first floated the idea of buying more Argentine beef. It’s also another way the United States could help prop up the Latin American nation’s sagging economy, which Mr. Trump has said he wants to do.
On Wednesday the White House made it official, saying that the United States would quadruple the amount of Argentine beef it allows into the country annually at a lower tariff rate.
In the days it took to complete the plan, Mr. Trump heard plenty of anger and skepticism from cattle country. The American cattle herd is at its smallest size since the 1950s, and finally, ranchers are benefiting from higher prices because of the smaller supply and considering investing profits to rebuild their herds.
“It’s really just a kick in the nuts,” said Kyle Hemmert, 61, who got his first cow in second grade and now has a herd of about 275 cattle in western Kansas. “Come on, President Trump, this is ‘America First’ policy? No.”
Mr. Hemmert is a supporter of the president and said he was not afraid to compete with ranchers and beef from other countries. But Mr. Trump’s plans are making him and many of his rural neighbors upset. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which is the largest trade organization representing the beef and cattle industry and has backed most of the president’s trade war, called the White House’s efforts “misguided.”
“The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and its members cannot stand behind the president while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentine beef in an attempt to influence prices,” Colin Woodall, the organization’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Mr. Trump said on social media that he was surprised by the backlash.
“The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil,” the president wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “It would be nice if they would understand that,” he added.
While other agricultural producers, like soybean farmers, began feeling negative effects from White House trade policies months ago, this is a new experience for the cattle industry.
The United States imports a lot of beef from Brazil, and the tariffs placed on the country have helped ranchers, but they aren’t the reason ranchers are profiting. Cattle prices were at record highs before Mr. Trump took office, and so far, the administration’s policies have done little to change the price ranchers receive for their cattle at auction.
For nearly a decade, ranchers struggled as droughts drove up the cost of animal feed and consolidation among feedlots and meatpackers left fewer buyers for their cattle. Many were driven out of business, and those who remained focused on eking out a living, rather than investing in building a larger herd that would pay off only years down the road.
But now, Mr. Trump is intervening in their market in a way that could lower the price they receive for their cattle.
Representative Julie Fedorchak, a Republican from North Dakota, said her office was flooded with calls and texts from ranchers after Mr. Trump first mentioned buying more Argentine beef. And on Tuesday she and seven fellow Republicans sent a letter to the White House relaying “strong concerns” and asking for more information about its plans.
“Our folks are looking for the president to support market-based solutions that will meet the supply and demand long term and be sustainable long term,” she said.
Others are being more direct. A post on the X account of Meriwether Farms, a Wyoming-based beef company run by Catharine Gillihan, a State Department official during the first Trump administration, called the president’s plans “an absolute betrayal to the American cattle rancher.”
She also said there was “chaos coming from the Department of Agriculture,” and claimed that people working at the agency now are “bought out by or aligned with Big Industries.”
Ms. Gillihan did not respond to requests for comment.
Few people expect increasing beef imports from Argentina to seriously affect the price of beef at supermarkets. Last year, Argentina made up just 2 percent of American beef imports. But the president’s plans have already driven lower the price ranchers receive for their cattle before they are slaughtered.
The uncertainty has pushed cattle futures lower. Brett Kenzy, who has a herd of about 400 cattle and owns a feedlot in Gregory, S.D., sold some cattle at auction on Wednesday. Because futures prices help determine the price at auction, his cattle sold for less money than he expected.
“I wish we could all just calm down,” he said. “That is my message. Everyone needs to relax a little bit.”
The United States already imports beef from a couple dozen countries, and Mr. Kenzy said importing more beef from Argentina was a “nonissue” that had been blown out of proportion. The reason cattle country is reacting so strongly, he said, is because they want “real reform, and not more band aids.”
The problem, then, isn’t the increase of beef imports from Argentina, but that it constitutes much of the White House’s beef policy.
The Agriculture Department rolled out a number of policies on Wednesday to try to rebuild cattle herds. They include expanding access to federal land for grazing, making it easier for new ranchers to get started, expanding a voluntary country-of-origin labeling program and reducing costs for small meat processors, among others.
Mr. Kenzy supported most of those policies, and said they may lead to larger cattle herds and lower grocery store prices in the years ahead. But they aren’t what he and other ranchers say will really help them, or American shoppers, more quickly.
Those include mandatory, not voluntary, country-of-origin laws, so consumers know if they are buying American or Argentine or Australian beef. Mr. Kenzy said he also believed concentration in the meatpacking industry, where four companies slaughter 85 percent of the beef in the United States, is a major cause of higher prices.
Mr. Hemmert, the Kansas rancher, acknowledged that cattlemen were making some money, but only after years of struggle. “To me, the message Trump is sending to ranchers is, ‘you are making too much money,’” he said.
“He is picking winners and losers, and to me that is a no-no,” Mr. Hemmert added.
Ana Swanson contributed reporting.
Kevin Draper is a business correspondent covering the agriculture industry. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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