President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration is considering buying beef from Argentina to lower costs at American grocery stores. File Photo by Bill Greenblat/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration is considering buying beef from Argentina, angering American cattle ranchers at a time when U.S. agriculture has been strained by high costs and trade uncertainty.
Trump made the comment to reporters aboard Air Force One as a possible way to lower the price of beef in the United States.
“One of the things we’re thinking about doing is [importing] beef from Argentina,” he said.
The announcement comes on the heels of the Trump administration on Oct. 10 stating his administration had finalized a $20 billion financial framework for Argentina.
The deal has angered Democrats and some Republicans, because the bailout was announced roughly 10 days into the U.S. federal government shutdown. Argentina, led by vocal Trump ally President Javier Milei, directly competes with U.S. soybean farmers for the Chinese market.
Asked what he would say to American farmers who feel the new deal is benefiting the South American country more than them, Trump said, “Argentina is fighting for its life.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” he said, directly addressing the reporter who asked the question. “They’re fighting for their life. Nothing’s benefiting Argentina. They’re fighting for their life. Do you understand what that means? They have no money. They have no anything. They’re fighting so hard to survive. If I can help them survive in a free world — I happen to like the president of Argentina. I think he’s trying to do the best he can.”
Concerning the beef deal, he explained the United States would “buy some beef from Argentina,” explaining “if we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.”
He said the Trump administration wouldn’t buy “that much from Argentina” but doing so would help the South American nation while lowering beef prices at home.
The cost of beef in the United States has hit record highs this year, steadily rising since December. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the cost of beef has increased for the eighth consecutive month through August and was 13.9% higher in August compared to a year earlier.
The announcement was met with swift anger from American beef ranchers.
“This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices,” Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement.
Woodall also pointed out that in the past five years, Argentina has sold more than $801 million of beef into the U.S. market, compared to just over $7 million worth of American beef to its market.
Nonpartisan Farm Action, an agricultural sector watchdog, lambasted Trump’s plan in an emailed statement to UPI, calling it “a betrayal of the American rancher.”
“After crashing the soybean market and gifting Argentina our largest export buyer, he’s now poised to do the same to the cattle market,” Christian Lovell, an Illinois cattle producer and Farm Action’s senior director of programs, said in the statement.
“Washington should be focused on fixing our broken cattle market, not rewarding foreign competitors. With these actions, President Trump risks acting more like the president of Argentina than president of the United States.”
Sen. Deb Fisher, a Republican representing Nebraska, said she has been in touch with the Trump administration since his comments, saying that U.S. intervention in the beef market will “hurt” American ranchers.
“Bottom line: if the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’t the way,” she said in a statement.
“I strongly encourage the Trump administration to focus on trade deals that benefit our ag producers — not imports that will do more harm than good.”
Meriwether Farms, a Wyoming-based beef producer and Trump supporter, issued a letter to the president, saying the plan to buy beef from Argentina to stabilize U.S. prices would be “an absolute betrayal” of the American cattle rancher.
“The practice of solving problems ‘over there’ before solving problems here on our soil is what contributed to the downfall of our country: Americans always come last,” Meriwether Farms said.
The U.S. soybean market has also been hit. In May, China stopped importing soybeans from the United States over Trump’s imposition of tariffs, and found suppliers in Argentina and Brazil.
