Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally Sept. 8, 2023, at The Monument in Rapid City, South Dakota. (Photo by Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
Two days after a U.S. senator from South Dakota said he was encouraged by the desire of President Donald Trump to “do right” by American ranchers, Trump outraged many of them by rolling out a policy to import more beef from Argentina.
A White House official told Reuters on Thursday that the Trump administration will quadruple the amount of beef that can be imported from Argentina at a lower tariff rate.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in response to a reporter’s question at a White House briefing Thursday that Trump “loves our ranchers and he also loves American consumers, and he wants to do right by both.”
“So the immediate solution to the problem of the rising cost of beef — the president wants to bring that down — is we have to increase our supply, and so that’s what he’s doing with respect to these imports,” Leavitt said.
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The policy announcement came amid a sudden and rapidly escalating feud between Trump and ranchers — many of whom are Trump supporters — after Trump said Sunday that buying more Argentinian beef would “bring our beef prices down.” The average price of ground chuck is up by more than $1 per pound so far this year.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, issued a statement Tuesday that he’d met with the president and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and came away “encouraged by the desire of President Trump and Secretary Rollins to do right by the American producer.”
“We agree that we need an America First game plan that prioritizes American ranchers,” Rounds said at the time.
Wednesday, as criticism mounted against Trump in cattle country, the president posted on social media that “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,” adding “It would be nice if they would understand that.”
Thursday, after the news broke that Trump was following through on his suggestion to import more Argentinian beef, Rounds’ office did not offer a comment and told South Dakota Searchlight he was unavailable for an interview.
Cattle industry representative calls action ‘ludicrous’
Ranchers and their trade-industry representatives in South Dakota, which has more than 3 million cattle and gave Trump 63% support in the last election, did not hold back.
Craig Bieber, vice president of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association, said the messaging from Trump landed hard.
“This has all been a bit of a gut punch to producers. I mean, I really feel like producers are shocked because we’ve supported him consistently,” Bieber said. “We finally got prices that we can make some headway on, and it just seems ludicrous that President Trump thinks that now that we’re finally at good prices, he needs to do something about it.”
Senator ‘encouraged’ Trump will ‘do right’ amid backlash over Argentinian beef comments
U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, and seven of his House Republican colleagues sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday, urging the administration to ensure that any future trade decisions are made with “full transparency, sound science, and a firm commitment to the U.S. cattle industry.”
“I understand the president’s efforts to strengthen trade and keep food affordable, but those efforts should not undermine the farmers and ranchers who put dinner on our tables,” Johnson said in a statement at the time.
Thursday, Johnson’s office sent Searchlight an updated statement: “I’ve been public about my concerns with this plan. The best way to lower prices at the meat counter is through more American beef, not more Argentinian beef.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said Thursday that he is concerned and wants a say in how the import policy is implemented.
“We’re paying close attention to it, and we’ve been in touch with the White House, Department of Agriculture, U.S. trade rep on all this stuff, trying to figure out where it’s headed,” Thune told reporters, according to Reuters.
‘Suite of actions’ welcomed, but seen as insufficient
In addition to Trump’s social media post Wednesday, the White House announced what it called “a suite of actions to strengthen the American beef industry.” They include boosting access to federal grazing lands, expanding indemnity payments for livestock lost to predators, strengthening “Product of USA” labeling, increasing funding and loans for small meat processors, reducing inspection fees, encouraging schools to buy locally raised beef, and working to open additional export markets.
Rancher and South Dakota state Rep. Liz May, R-Kyle, said the proposals will help, but won’t solve all the problems in the cattle industry.
“You can nibble around the edges, or you can go to the big issue: breaking up the monopoly structure that lets meatpackers dictate markets,” she said. “Restore true market competition.”
May said it’s simple: “Enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act and dust off the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts.” The first law is designed to prevent unfair, deceptive and anti-competitive practices in the livestock and meatpacking industries, and the latter are intended to prevent monopolistic practices.
“Do that and the rest will take care of itself,” May said.
Amanda Radke, a rancher near Mitchell and co-owner of Radke Cattle Co., made similar observations while saying she is excited about a number of the Trump administration’s “suite of actions” to strengthen the beef industry.
“We have a packer monopoly where 85% of our beef supply is held captive by four major players, two that are foreign-owned,” she said. “Ranchers don’t want a handout — they just want a free and fair market.”
Packer concentration, as many ranchers describe it, has worsened in recent decades. In 1980, the top four beef packers accounted for about 35% of cattle purchases.
May, Radke and others in the cattle industry have said greater imports of beef from Argentina are unlikely to push down retail prices.
“The packers will benefit from this, not consumers,” May said.
Parade-area rancher and Democratic former state lawmaker Oren Lesmeister said Trump’s comments on social media show an ignorance of cattle industry economics.
Lesmeister said prices are high because cattle numbers have declined due to droughts, ranchers aging out of the business and other factors. The Agriculture Department’s own Wednesday announcement said the national herd is at a 75-year low while consumer demand for beef has grown 9% over the past decade.
Lesmeister said he hopes ranchers take the moment to reflect and see that it’s Democratic politicians working to break up monopolies, not Trump.
Lesmeister also said an unpredictable president who seems indifferent to the effects of his words on markets “makes it really tough to operate.” He said beef prices have traditionally been influenced by weather, production and the export market.
“Now, it doesn’t matter. It’s, ‘What’s the president going to say tomorrow?’” Lesmeister said.
Soybean farmers also angry about Argentina aid
Ranchers aren’t the only members of the agriculture community upset with Trump’s efforts to help Argentina.
Trump has praised Argentina’s Libertarian president, Javier Milei, including at Mar-a-Lago last year and during a White House meeting this month. Trump has also pledged $20 billion worth of aid to bolster the country’s collapsing currency and has discussed increasing the figure to $40 billion.
Meanwhile, Argentina and the U.S. are rival soybean producers, and Argentina is reportedly increasing its soybean exports to China while that country boycotts U.S. soybean purchases in retaliation for Trump-imposed tariffs.
National Farmers Union President Rob Larew said the Trump administration was already hurting American agricultural producers while helping Argentinians.
“The last thing we need is to reward them by importing more of their beef,” Larew said in a statement.
Shauneen Miranda of States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau contributed to this report.