American cattle ranchers are turning against President Donald Trump over his plan to import Argentine beef, warning that the measure—which is meant to curb record-high prices—will harm domestic producers.

“Cattlemen and women cannot stand behind President Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef,” the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) wrote on X on Wednesday.

The trade group, the largest representing ranchers and beef producers in the U.S., said it was imperative that Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins “let cattle markets work without interference.”

Why It Matters

Intended as a means of tackling the U.S.’s sky-high beef prices—while also supporting Argentina’s economy and its president, Javier Milei—Trump’s proposal has drawn intense criticism from American cattle workers, who worry it will undercut domestic competitiveness while doing little to lower consumer costs.

The plan, which remains in its preliminary stages and faces a number of hurdles, has also engendered a rare split on Capitol Hill. A handful of Republican lawmakers from farming states have voiced their opposition, arguing that the proposal contradicts the president’s own “America First” agenda.

What To Know

Last week, Trump said the administration was working to lower the price of beef, which soared to another record high in the Labor Department’s latest inflation reading, telling reporters that he was close to a “deal on beef.”

When asked for clarification on Sunday, the president said the U.S. was considering importing “some beef” from Argentina, and that this would “bring our beef prices down.”

The proposal led to immediate pushback from cattle ranchers. John Boyd, a farmer and the founder of the National Black Farmers Association, told Newsweek he was “appalled” that the president would support Argentinian agriculture over U.S. ranchers. Justin Tupper, the president of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA), told Newsweek the plan “weakens our industry’s foundation and undermines rural America.”

The USCA sent a letter to the president on Tuesday, writing that while they appreciated the “clear desire to keep food affordable and high-quality for every American family,” the proposal was not a “healthy, transparent, or America First solution.” The group noted that imports had historically suppressed the profits of domestic producers and warned that below-standard beef from Brazil—currently facing steep U.S. tariffs—could be transshipped through Argentina using a “‘Product of USA’ loophole.”

In response to this growing opposition, Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday, 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!”

Trump wrote in a later post that tariffs had “SAVED our Cattle Ranchers!”

“It’s unconscionable to tell struggling farmers to lower prices while they’re losing their farms,” Boyd told Newsweek on Thursday in response to Trump’s post.

“It’s not a single entity or individual farmer that unilaterally sets these prices; rather, it’s a dynamic interplay of supply and demand, production costs, market forces, and consumer behavior,” he added. “If he wants to help farmers, try cutting fuel cost, high equipment, fertilizer and fix the farm labor shortage.”

The cattle industry was supportive of Trump’s imposition of a 50 percent tariff on imports from Brazil—one of the U.S.’s largest foreign suppliers—which brought the total rate on the country’s beef to about 76 percent.

In September, NCBA Executive Director of Government Affairs Kent Bacus called this a “good first step” at a hearing convened by the U.S. Trade Representative, but he cautioned that further measures were needed given the country’s restrictions on U.S. imports and “long-standing concerns with the Brazilian government’s track record of food safety and animal health.”

However, the NCBA also took issue with Trump’s latest Truth Social comments in a social media post on Wednesday.

“The reality is that ranchers’ success is driven by their own hard work. America’s cattlemen and women operate in one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world,” the group wrote on Facebook. “U.S. cattle producers are proud to provide the safest, highest-quality beef on earth. We simply ask that the government not undercut them by importing more Argentinian beef in order to manipulate prices.”

Read More Here