08/26/2026
This is a great read. So many valid points amongst the controversy.
My sister texted me last night and said, “Well, what are you going to write?”
She knows me well.
Because the minute I started reading about President Trump’s plan to allow more foreign hamburger into the United States at reduced tariffs in an effort to bring beef prices down, I had thoughts.
First, let’s put this into perspective. The proposal is for up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef over 90 days. In the grand scheme of the amount of beef consumed in this country, that isn’t an earth shattering amount. I’m not going to pretend 300,000 metric tons of hamburger is going to single handedly destroy the American cattle industry.
But I’m still concerned. REALLY concerned.
Because 300,000 metric tons today can become more tomorrow. Policies create precedent. Markets respond to signals. And once we decide importing cheaper beef is an acceptable way to deal with high beef prices, it becomes a whole lot easier to do it again the next time consumers complain about prices.
I understand what President Trump is trying to do. It’s an election year. Consumers are angry about grocery prices. Beef is expensive. The president wants to be able to say his administration did something to help. And he assumes that rural America will vote red no matter how they’ve been treated.
But sometimes “help” isn’t nearly as helpful as it sounds.
If the goal is to help the American consumer, I want to know exactly how we know this will do that.
Let’s say imported hamburger comes into this country cheaper. Does the grocery store have to pass those savings along? Does the processor? Does the distributor?
Or does cheaper beef simply mean a better margin somewhere between the ranch and the meat counter?
Because if American cattle producers take the hit while processors, retailers or other businesses pocket the difference, we didn’t lower grocery prices.
We just moved money from one pocket to another.
And I’m getting a little tired of agriculture being the pocket everyone reaches into when food gets expensive.
We have one of the smallest cattle herds this country has seen in generations. Producers have battled drought, feed costs, equipment prices, land prices, interest rates, veterinary costs and every other expense that comes with raising cattle.
For the first time in a long time, the market is sending producers a pretty clear message: We need more cattle.
You cannot rebuild the American cow herd in six months. You retain a heifer instead of selling her. You feed her. You breed her. You wait nine months for her to have a calf. Then you wait for that calf to grow. All the while, you are paying the bills and hoping the market is still there by the time you finally have something to sell.
So I have a hard time understanding how discouraging American production is supposed to solve a supply problem.
And if we’re going to bring more foreign hamburger into this country in the name of lowering prices, then Congress needs to finish what it has started with MCOOL.
Because I have a feeling a whole lot of Americans would choose American beef if they were actually given the information necessary to make that choice.
I bought strawberries the other day. I can look at the package and see that they came from Mexico. I can buy blueberries and know they came from Peru. I can pick up produce, turn over the package and see where it was grown.
But I can stand in front of a package of hamburger and have absolutely no idea where the animal that became that hamburger was born, raised or harvested.
If we are going to bring more foreign beef into this country, then I think American consumers have every right to know what they are buying.
*****
I want families to be able to afford hamburger. I really do. I buy groceries, too, and I see the same prices everyone else sees.
But I also want someone to show me that this plan will actually make hamburger cheaper.
Show me how much cheaper imported beef will be. Then show me how much of that savings will reach the person pushing the cart through the grocery store.
Because if hamburger drops $2 a pound at the wholesale level and 10 cents at the grocery store, I think we should all be asking where the other $1.90 went.
And if cattle prices fall while retail beef prices barely move, then cattle producers deserve an explanation too.
That is where President Trump’s “help” needs some scrutiny.
Maybe 300,000 metric tons makes a small difference. Maybe consumers see some relief. I hope they do.
But what happens if they don’t?
Do we import another 300,000?
Then another?
At what point does a temporary solution become THE solution? Because that is what worries me far more than this one announcement.
America has spent decades watching industries move overseas because someone else could produce something cheaper. There are plenty of things we can decide we don’t need to manufacture here anymore.
Food should never be one of them.
