Trump administration considers Argentine beef imports as domestic prices rise

The Department of Agriculture aimed to chill rising beef prices by importing South American meat, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Tuesday interview. Roughly 10 million tons of the 12 million tons of beef Americans consume annually are domestically produced, Rollins said. Officials are eyeing Argentina to provide the remaining 2 million tons, increasing the U.S. supply so that prices can drop.

Rollins cited American herds at a 75-year low while the demand for beef is still on the rise. The president is focused on bringing grocery prices down, and one way to do that is bringing cattle herding back to the United States, Rollins said in another Tuesday interview. The secretary hinted that new pro-farmer policies, including new ranching incentives and efforts to open up new lands, would be announced soon.

How are farmers responding? The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, or NCBA, released a Wednesday statement slamming the administration's plan to import beef from Argentina. Efforts to manipulate market prices may damage the livelihoods of American herders and prove ineffective for consumers, the association said. The United States has had a severe beef trade imbalance with Argentina for years, and the Trump administration’s plan will only make it worse, according to the statement. NCBA CEO Colin Woodall called on Trump and Rollins to let the cattle market work itself out.

The plan also triggered pushback from GOP lawmakers. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., released a Tuesday statement insisting government intervention in the meat market would hurt ranchers. Importing beef won’t lower grocery store prices and will ultimately do more harm than good, she wrote. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., also released a Tuesday statement sounding the alarm on government intervention in the meat market. American cattle producers have been at a disadvantage for too long, and opening the market to more foreign beef will only hurt domestic producers, he wrote.

Dig deeper: Read Kim Henderson’s report in WORLD Magazine about the growing threat of Mexican wolves to cattle ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico.