GOP backlash grows to Trump’s beef price intervention

GOP lawmakers and cattle ranchers are immediately raising alarm bells over President Trump’s decision to temporarily lift certain tariffs on imported ground beef to mitigate the cost for American consumers.

The president said Friday a deal is coming that would lower the price of ground beef for Americans to 25 percent below the current market price. It failed to say from which country the beef would be imported.

Critics say that while keeping prices affordable for Americans is important, it shouldn’t be done at the expense of American cattle ranchers.

“While America’s cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd,” Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement. “Cattle markets have already turned sharply lower this morning, to the detriment of farmers and ranchers.”

“This is a critical time of year for cattle producers, as we approach the season where they are making decisions regarding their herds,” he added. “Cattle farmers and ranchers are responding to strong market signals and historically high demand, and we are already working to rebuild after years of ongoing drought, high input costs and other challenges that have reduced U.S. cattle numbers.”

He said the announcement throws “cold water” on the idea of expanding herds.

Meriwether Farms, a farm-to-table cattle operation from Wyoming, called the president’s actions a “betrayal” on social media.

Trump said the temporarily lifted tariffs would last for 90 days to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported “as we work to rebuild this herd and help our ranchers.”

The president planned a similar move in May, according to Politico, but shelved the idea after pushback from his inner circle.

“Beef prices are elevated because of supply shortages that began under the Biden administration – the American cattle herd size is at a multi-decade low, while domestic demand for beef continues to be high,” a White House official said. “This short-term action allows foreign imports to fill a gap to meet domestic ground beef demand at affordable prices.”

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said that ranchers from her state will “feel this squeeze, and they deserve a long-term plan that doesn’t leave them in limbo.”

“President Trump is right to make lowering grocery costs for American families a priority. I share his commitment to bringing those costs down,” she wrote on social platform X. “At the same time, short-term relief can’t come at the expense of American ranchers, free markets and long-term solutions. American ranchers have battled drought, rising input costs, and an out-of-control regulatory system that makes it harder and more expensive to produce here at home.”

Beef prices have been soaring across the country. The average price of 100 percent ground beef per pound in the U.S. is roughly $6.89, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shared by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis .

The prices have increased because the U.S. is facing record-low cattle numbers due to several factors, including droughts and rising operational costs, all the while demand remains high.

Data from the Department of Agriculture showed that the U.S. started with 86.2 million cattle at the beginning of the year, the lowest cattle inventory since 1951 .

“I’ve advised President Trump against this course of action for a year because American ranchers have been struggling against the packer monopoly for decades, and this will further harm them – most of whom are MAGA Republicans,” Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) wrote on X.

“The reality is this action will make it more difficult for American ranchers to rebuild our herd and bring prices down for the American people,” he added. “And most importantly, this will harm our ranching families who feed the nation.”

Supporters of Trump have even weighed in to hit on this decision.

Fox News’s Tomi Lahren said on social media that “if this is the plan the VERY LEAST that can be done is mandatory country of origin labeling so consumers know where the beef they’re buying is coming from.”

“Importing a bunch of foreign beef is just a giant gift to the meat packers who then get to undercut our American ranchers who cannot differentiate their product from the cheap foreign s‑‑‑,” she said. “The American cattlemen is being driven out of business so the land can be gobbled up for data centers and other bulls‑‑‑.”

Critics also said the move shows that Trump’s use of tariffs hurts Americans.

“Trump is once again explicitly admitting his broad-based tariffs raise prices for Americans — and it’s true from groceries to back-to-school shopping to buying a new home,” Alex Jacquez, senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research at Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement.

Marian Tupy, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said the measure “once again exposes the absence of a coherent economic philosophy within MAGA.”

“The principle seems to change with the president’s policy,” he said. “When Trump imposes tariffs, his defenders insist that they do not raise prices for American consumers. When Trump cuts tariffs, many of the same defenders celebrate the move because it will lower prices for American consumers. Both claims cannot be true at the same time.”

“The simplest explanation is that loyalty to Trump comes first and the economic rationale follows,” he added.