Cattle Ranchers Have a Beef With Trump
The tariff-free importation of 300,000 metric tons of potentially substandard beef crashed cattle markets. Trump’s makeup plans to placate ranchers are lacking in substance.
Cattle Ranchers Have a Beef With Trump https://prospect.org/2026/09/09/trump-meat-cattle-ranchers-beef/
“It’s just another big rug pull,” said Mike Callicrate, head of Colorado-based Ranch Foods Direct. “This idea that we have to study something that’s been studied to death already is crazy … I think he’s going to delay it, get past the election, see where things are at, and nothing will happen.”
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On the day that the Trump administration announced the importation of 300,000 metric tons of ground beef without tariffs in an attempt to reduce current sky-high retail prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly Cattle on Feed Report, which showed growth in the amount of cattle on feedlots but at much lower percentages than estimated. Placements were also historically tight, at the lowest level for July in 30 years.
What this means in layman’s terms is that ranchers should have been able to earn higher prices for heads of cattle, since supply was at a premium, for the first time in a while. After decades of falling profitability, over half of cattle ranches have shuttered in the U.S.
Source: https://prospect.org/2026/09/09/trump-meat-cattle-ranchers-beef/