“Packers and retailers unlimited access to cheaper imports exploits producers on one end of the beef supply chain and consumers on the other.”
BILLINGS, Mt – Recent media reports indicate President Trump is working to lower beef prices in the United States, with some reports indicating Argentina may play a role in the administration’s price-lowering strategy.
This week, Trump announced a $20 billion bailout for Argentina – further mudding the waters of how that may factor in to Trump’s claim of lowering beef prices in the U.S. Argentina’s beef exports to the U.S. are increasing, with recent data showing a 46% increase in the first nine months of 2024. And Argentine beef imports to the U.S. have reached the highest level since 1997 in early 2025.
Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, said he urges the president to address the fundamental problems in the beef market, not just its symptom contending the symptom is that the U.S. has shrunk its beef cow herd to such a low level that it can no longer produce enough beef to satisfy domestic demand.
“But the fundamental problem is that decades of failed trade policies have allowed cheap, undifferentiated imports to displace the domestic cow herd.” He added, “Just over a generation ago, cattle producers received over 60% of the consumer’s beef dollar and the packer and retailer received under 40%, and at that time consumer beef prices were affordable.
But since that time, the packers’ and retailers’ share of the consumer beef dollar grew disproportionately to the cattle producers’ share. By 2021, the allocation was completely reversed, with packers and retailers receiving over 60% and producers receiving under 40% of the consumer’s beef dollar.
“In other words, the monopolistic control by the concentrated beef packers and beef retailers, and their access to unlimited, cheaper imports, enable them to exploit producers at one end of the beef supply chain and consumers on the other.
Bullard said attempting to lower domestic beef prices simply by inviting even more imports will both exacerbate and accelerate the ongoing dismantling of the domestic beef supply chain.
“We implore the president to fix the fundamentally broken beef market by protecting the domestic cattle industry from excessive, price-depressing imports and from the monopolistic practices of the beef packers and retailers that caused our industry to shrink over the past several decades, resulting in today’s inflated beef prices.
“Such action will incentivize our domestic industry to rebuild and expand to meet our nation’s national security interest of achieving self-reliance in beef production and ensure that consumers pay a competition-driven – not the current monopolistic-driven – price for beef.”