Trump faces pressure from rural state lawmakers over beef imports

President Donald Trump’s move to boost beef imports is rankling lawmakers in rural states, who are taking criticism from domestic ranchers.Trump announced last month that he would be temporarily easing tariffs on beef in an effort to increase supply of the meat on the market and thus lower prices for consumers. The action was taken to address affordability, which is a top consideration for voters. But some lawmakers are putting pressure on the White House to change course. For instance, this week, Reps. Zach Nunn (R-IA) and Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) announced bipartisan legislation that would suspend Trump’s expansion of foreign beef imports and require congressional approval before future presidential actions on beef, among other provisions.“Lowering beef prices for Iowa families and supporting our cattle producers should go hand-in-hand,” Nunn said. “If we want more affordable beef for the long term, we need more American beef being raised and produced here at home.”In a news release, Vasquez said the goal is to grow cattle stock here in the United States in order to bring down beef prices, not rely on “un-vetted foreign imports.” Vasquez said he has been hearing a lot about the issue from ranchers in his state.“Cattlegrowers in New Mexico and across the nation have made it clear — they want to reverse the president’s foreign beef imports and they need more time, and more tools, to grow their herds and fix the domestic supply chain,” he said.Also, the Farm Bureau has been pushing the White House to reverse course and clamp down on beef imports. President Zippy Duvall has argued that the easing of tariffs hasn’t resulted in lower beef prices.“Farm Bureau economists tracked 41 locations since Labor Day and found that, on average, prices have fallen only 16 cents per pound,” he posted on X. “Most prices were unchanged. Families are still facing historically high prices and the threat of a 60% increase in imports over 90 days caused a sharp drop in the prices paid to ranchers for their cattle.”Duvall also said Trump’s action “undercut a fragile recovery” for the cattle industry.But Rich Nelson, chief strategist with Allendale, told the Washington Examiner that while beef prices haven’t fallen, price growth has slowed.Beef steak prices were up 4.8% for the year ending in August. That is a major slowdown in inflation from January, when prices were up a whopping 13%.Nelson said that, absent changes to the Trump beef import policy, price growth will continue to slow, or even reverse.“I would certainly suggest that we will see lower beef prices probably by the time we end this year,” Nelson said.Politico reported this week that some White House officials have been discussing a rollback of Trump’s effort to boost imports. The White House denied the reporting, though.“Total fake news,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told the Washington Examiner.Nelson said the notion of Trump rolling back the beef import plan doesn’t make much sense.He said that the president “suggested very clearly and repeatedly throughout this year, he’s making significant efforts to lower retail beef prices, and they have been moderately successful.”“I would be quite surprised if he stops his efforts to raise imports,” he added.Also, Nelson questioned the politics of limiting imports, noting that ranchers are only a tiny part of the electorate.“U.S. agriculture, as far as population, is only about 2% of the U.S. population. … I don’t see it as anything matching with his efforts throughout the entire year here,” he said.Overall inflation has been the biggest concern for consumers heading into the midterm elections. Trump was elected, in big part, because voters blamed then-President Joe Biden for the country’s too-hot inflation.Since then, the higher inflation has caused Trump’s economic approval ratings to crater.FED PROJECTS ERA OF TOO-HIGH INFLATION TO LAST BETTER PART OF A DECADEInflation held at a 3.4% rate for the year ending in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week. In the month of August alone, consumer prices rose 0.4%, with much of that increase coming from higher gasoline prices.And inflation measured by the producer price index ticked up six-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4% for the year ending in August.