This should go well: Trump now attacking cattle ranchers

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...lot's of FAFO all around.



Trump’s Plan For Buying Argentinian Beef Prompts Backlash From Ranchers

Trump told reporters Sunday the U.S. could “buy some beef from Argentina,” predicting the move “will bring our beef prices down,” adding “it would help Argentina, which we consider a very good country, a very good ally.”

Trump made the comments after the U.S. announced a $40 billion economic assistance package for Argentina, including a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina’s central bank that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was finalized Tuesday, plus another $20 billion in financing from private sector and sovereign wealth funds.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/10/21/trumps-plan-for-buying-argentinian-beef-prompts-backlash-from-ranchers/


The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America and other farming groups — who are normally some of the president’s biggest supporters — all criticized Trump’s idea because of what it could do to American ranchers and feedlot operators. And agricultural economists say Argentine beef accounts for such a small slice of beef imports — only about 2% — that even doubling that wouldn’t change prices much.

South Dakota rancher Brett Kenzy said he wants American consumers to determine whether beef is too expensive, not the government. And so far there is little sign that consumers are substituting chicken or other proteins for beef on their shopping lists even though the average price of a pound of ground beef hit its highest point ever at $6.32 in the latest report before the government shutdown began.

“I love ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric. I love ‘America First’ rhetoric,” he said. “But to me this feels a lot like the failed policies of the past — the free trade sourcing cheap global goods.”

Bryant Kagay, part owner of Kagay Farms in Amity, Missouri, said he thinks the plan would hurt ranchers. Cattle prices that had been averaging around $3,000 for a 1,250-pound animal slipped more than $100 immediately after Trump mentioned the idea of intervening in beef prices last week, though they have recovered a bit since then.

https://fortune.com/2025/10/22/cattle-ranchers-unhappy-with-trump-argentina-beef-america-first-trade/

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