The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says President Donal Trump’s plan to increase the volume of beef being imported from Argentina is a misguided effort to lower the price of beef in grocery stores, and risks damaging the livelihoods of American cattlemen and women, while doing little to drive down consumer prices.
On October 22, the White House said the U.S. would quadruple the amount of Argentine beef it allows into the country annually at a lower tariff rate, reports The New York Times.
“The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and its members cannot stand behind the President while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef in an attempt to influence prices,” said NCBA CEO Colin Woodall, in a statement October 22. “It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let the cattle markets work.”
The NCBA said that, during the past five years, Argentina has shipped beef valued at more than $800 million to the U.S., while purchasing only $7 million of U.S. beef. Furthermore, the association warns, Argentina is a nation with a long history of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), and the USDA has not completed the necessary steps to ensure Argentina can guarantee the safety of the products being shipped to the U.S., further endangering America’s cattle herd.
“If President Trump is truly an ally of America’s cattle producers, we call on him to abandon this effort to manipulate markets and focus instead on the promised New World Screwworm facilities in Texas; making additional investments that protect the domestic cattle herd from foreign animal diseases such as FMD; and addressing regulatory burdens, such as delisting of the gray wolf and addressing the scourge of black vultures,” said Woodall.
