President Trump Posts Comments on the Beef Industry Prompting NCBA Response

NCBA Pushes Back on Trump’s Cattle Tariff Comments and Argentina Beef Plans

The cattle industry is once again at the center of a national discussion following recent comments from President Donald Trump about his administration’s trade policies and their impact on U.S. cattle producers.

President Trump took to social media, writing, “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. If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years – Terrible! It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”

Those remarks quickly drew a strong reaction from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The group released a statement from its CEO, Colin Woodall, saying, “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 Argentinian beef in an attempt to influence prices. It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let the cattle markets work. If President Trump is truly an ally of America’s cattle producers, we call on him to abandon this effort to manipulate markets and focus instead on the promised New World Screwworm facilities in Texas; making additional investments that protect the domestic cattle herd from foreign animal diseases such as FMD; and addressing regulatory burdens, such as delisting of the gray wolf and addressing the scourge of black vultures.”

According to NCBA, “President Trump’s comments were a misguided effort to lower the price of beef in grocery stores, President Trump said he plans to increase the volume of beef being imported from Argentina. Efforts to manipulate markets only risk damaging the livelihoods of American cattlemen and women, while doing little to impact the price consumers are paying at the grocery store.”

NCBA reaffirmed its commitment to free and fair cattle markets, warning that any effort to artificially control prices could harm both producers and consumers in the long term.

Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.