08/21/2026
I’m going to say this from the perspective of an American cattle producer, not from the perspective of a political party.
I am disappointed.
President Trump announced today that, for the next 90 days, the United States will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to enter without the out-of-quota tariff, with the stated goal of lowering ground beef prices for American consumers.
I understand wanting to give consumers some relief at the grocery store. We all buy groceries too. We understand what inflation has done to American families.
But I have a hard time accepting that the answer to high beef prices is bringing in more foreign beef and intentionally putting downward pressure on the market American cattlemen have spent years fighting to rebuild.
Our cattle inventory is already historically tight. Producers have battled drought, hurricanes, skyrocketing feed and fertilizer costs, fuel prices, equipment costs, interest rates, labor shortages, disease threats, and a packing industry that has continued to consolidate. Many producers have finally reached a point where cattle prices actually reflect what it costs to stay in this business.
And now we're going to bring in cheaper foreign beef to fix the price at the meat counter?
That's frustrating.
Because cattlemen don't set the price of beef in the grocery store. The price you pay for a pound of ground beef and the price a producer receives for cattle are not the same thing. Yet when grocery prices become politically uncomfortable, it seems like the American producer is the easiest place to apply pressure.
Even cattle organizations and lawmakers friendly to this administration are raising concerns that increasing imports could discourage producers from retaining females, rebuilding herds and making the long-term investments necessary to increase American beef production.
You cannot tell American cattlemen that we need to rebuild the cow herd while simultaneously making decisions that create uncertainty about whether rebuilding that herd will pay.
Those two things don't go together.
And yes, I'm unhappy about it. Supporting someone politically doesn't mean blindly agreeing with every decision they make. When a policy hurts—or has the potential to hurt—the people who raise America's beef, cattlemen have every right to speak up.
But here's the other thing I know about cattle people:
We are resilient as hell!
We've survived droughts. We've survived hurricanes and floods. We've survived terrible markets, record input costs, disease outbreaks, packer consolidation and more government decisions than I care to count.
We'll survive this too.
We'll keep getting up before daylight. We'll keep feeding cattle. We'll keep improving genetics. We'll keep raising calves, rebuilding herds and producing one of the safest, highest-quality beef products in the world.
And most importantly, we'll stand together.
This industry has been knocked down plenty of times before, and every single time, cattlemen have gotten back up.
So while I strongly disagree with this decision, I haven't lost faith in the American cattleman.
Not for one second.
Buy American beef. Support American ranchers. And never underestimate the resilience of the people who feed this country. 🇺🇸
