Beef producers on Wednesday hit back at President Trump for suggesting they lower meat prices after the administration shared plans to increase imports from Argentina.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it “cannot stand” behind the president’s decision, accusing him and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins of making “undercuts” to “the future of family farmers.”
“America’s cattlemen and women operate in one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world. U.S. cattle producers are proud to provide the safest, highest-quality beef on earth,” the organization wrote in a Wednesday post on the social platform X.
“We simply ask that the government not undercut them by importing more Argentinian beef in order to manipulate prices,” they added in the post.
In a follow-up statement, the association urged the Trump administration to focus on completing a planned New World screwworm facility in Texas.
The $750 million facility, set to be built in Edinburg, Texas, is slated to produce 300 million sterile flies per week to help combat the New World screwworm parasite, which threatens livestock in North and Central America. The project was first announced in August.
In addition to accelerating the development of the facility, ranchers are calling on Trump to invest in protections for domestic cattle herds with a focus on tackling animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and addressing regulatory burdens.
The Wednesday statement by the group representing cattle ranchers was spurred by the president’s social media posts earlier in the day, where he claimed his tariffs have improved conditions for ranchers.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible!”
Source: The Hill
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