Trump argues with cattlemen over the price of beef.

CPI and PPI Beef Components index levels

Trump to Quadruple Argentine Beef Imports While US Ranchers Fume

Reuters reports Trump to Quadruple Argentine Beef Imports While US Ranchers Fume

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is quadrupling the country’s low-tariff imports of Argentine beef in his attempt to lower grocery store beef prices, a White House official said on Thursday, evoking fury from the nation’s cattle ranchers.

Raising the tariff rate quota on Argentine beef to 80,000 metric tons will let the country ship more of its beef to the U.S. at a lower rate of duty. U.S. beef prices have set records due to tight cattle supplies and strong consumer demand.

“A deal of this magnitude with Argentina would undercut the very foundation of our cattle industry,” said Justin Tupper, a South Dakota cattle producer and president of the United States Cattlemen’s Association.

Farmers were also angered by Trump’s $20 billion currency swap with Argentina while they lost out to the South American nation on soybean sales to China.

Trump on the Price of Beef

Truth Social Link: The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil. If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible! It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!

Also note: “The price setters are the packers. If there is any gouging of the consumer it comes from them.”

Farm-State Republicans Reach Breaking Point

Politico reports Farm-State Republicans Finally Reach Their Breaking Point

For President Donald Trump, it was a brief musing to reporters on Air Force One about his plans to import beef from Argentina.

GOP lawmakers in cattle-producing states unleashed a flurry of calls over the following days to the White House and the Agriculture Department. A small group of Republican senators, including retiring Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, cornered USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins in a private meeting less than 48 hours after the Oct. 19 comment.

So far, the burst of objections has not generated a U-turn from the administration, which is going ahead with a beef import plan that Trump officials argue will both lower steak and hamburger prices for American consumers and bolster relations with a key Trump ally, Argentinian President Javier Milei.

But it has exposed the limits of GOP lawmakers’ tolerance for policies that have especially tested states heavy on agriculture. Some of the president’s staunchest Hill allies watched for months as Trump’s tariffs devastated farmers. More recently, they begged his deputies to reopen key farm offices during the shutdown. Then came the beef beef, with one GOP senator granted anonymity to speak candidly calling it a “a betrayal of America First principles.”

Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), and Greg Steube (R-Fla.), along with 11 other House Republicans, warned against Trump’s beef move, according to a letter sent Tuesday to Rollins and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that was obtained exclusively by POLITICO.

The frustrations are also playing out on the Senate floor this week on a series of votes to undo some of Trump’s global tariffs. On Tuesday, five GOP senators joined Democrats to reverse 50 percent tariffs on Brazil; four Republicans voted Wednesday to cancel tariffs on Canada. While the votes are largely symbolic — House Republicans have preempted any challenges to Trump tariffs until February — the message was sent.

“Brazil had a trade surplus, and the impetus behind it appears to be a disagreement with a judicial proceeding,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said, referring to Trump’s displeasure with the prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. “I just don’t think that’s a strong basis for using the trade lever.”

CPI Ground Beef Price per Pound

Ground Beef price per pound from the BLS

CPI and PPI Beef Components Percent Change From Year Ago

CPI and PPI Beef Components percent change from a year ago

Beef Chart Notes

• The price of ground beef is up by $2.45 per pound since pre-Covid (63.3 percent)
• The price of ground beef is up by $0.65 per pound from a year ago (11.5 percent)
• The slaughter cattle index is up 118 percent since pre-Covid
• The slaughter cattle index is up 26.5 percent from a year ago

Trump’s Observations on Prices

• There is virtually no inflation
• Cattlemen are doing well because tariffs have raised prices
• The price setters are the packers. This is despite the fact that the PPI is up 26.5 percent from a year ago.
• Cattlemen don’t understand tariffs.

Unlike you, I see absolutely no contradictions in any of this. This is Trumperland where contradictions do not exist by nature.

Obviously, there is price gouging by the meat packers although prices are not going up because there is virtually no inflation.

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