NCBA’s Ethan Lane Weighs In on President Trump’s Beef Import Comments and Market Impact
Following a week of headlines about President Trump’s comments on potential beef import purchases and the resulting reaction from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the discussion over cattle markets and federal trade policy continues.
To gain perspective on the situation, we spoke with Ethan Lane, NCBA’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, who offered a balanced look at both the short-term tensions and the long-term relationship between the administration and the cattle industry.
“You know this is one of those spots where the president is managing a lot of different issues at once here and that’s just the nature of a complex policy agenda with trade and consumer prices and inflation and all these things happening at once and I think this has been an important chance for the White House to see that there is a lot of things the cattle industry is asking for from the federal government but there is also some things that this industry reacts very strongly to and one of those is anything that looks like driving down cattle prices at a point when the industry is just now getting well from COVID and from those tough years a couple years ago.”
Lane emphasized the importance of maintaining strong cattle prices and protecting the progress the industry has made. “We don’t want to disincentivize that and we certainly don’t want to give ground in an environment where we’ve worked tirelessly for decades to build the beef demand that’s driving those prices right now.”
He added that while emotions have run high, the back-and-forth was a necessary part of productive communication. “So, it’s one of those instances where I think a lot of folks needed to get that out of their system and say their piece. Certainly, we have served as an important amplifier of that frustration over the last couple days but we also have to recognize here that we are working to or towards common goals with the administration.”
Lane concluded by reinforcing NCBA’s cooperative approach. “I think it’s one of those things where we have to remember that we’re all on the team here and pulling the same direction and that doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be days when there’s some unfinished business that has to be worked out and I think that’s the process you’re seeing play out right now.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.