President Donald Trump has some beef with the price of beef.
American ranchers — many of them among his most reliable supporters — have some beef with his solution.
Trump announced Friday that the United States would temporarily allow up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef to enter the country without triggering higher out-of-quota tariffs. He said exporters had committed to selling the beef at 25% below current market prices.
“This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
But the plan has prompted unusually sharp opposition from cattle producers and Republicans representing ranching states, who say importing discounted foreign beef will undercut the American producers Trump has promised to protect.
“What a slap in the face to American cattlemen & consumers,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote. “Worse than socialism!”
Massie argued that temporarily dumping cheaper foreign beef into the American market could lower prices without giving U.S. ranchers an incentive to raise more cattle.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also criticized Trump’s approach, instead endorsing Massie’s PRIME Act, which would loosen federal restrictions on meat processed at smaller local slaughterhouses and sold within the same state.
If Trump really wanted to lower beef prices he would support Massie’s PRIME Act which allows individual states to permit local custom slaughterhouses to sell individual cuts of meat directly to consumers, restaurants, and grocery stores within that same state. But instead the… pic.twitter.com/feQtEmoqTy
— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) August 21, 2026
“If Trump really wanted to lower beef prices he would support Massie’s PRIME Act,” Greene wrote Friday, also calling for country-of-origin labeling on imported meat. “Why won’t the Republican elected President support these legislations which are America First?” she asked.
The criticism comes amid a growing rupture between Trump and former MAGA allies including Greene and Massie, who increasingly accuse the president of abandoning the “America First” agenda they once championed.
They aren’t alone on beef.
Beef prices have reached record highs as the American cattle herd remains near its smallest size since the 1950s. Years of drought, wildfires and high operating costs led ranchers to reduce their herds, which can take years to rebuild.
The American Farm Bureau Federation warned Trump’s proposal could cause “long-term damage” to cattle producers, while Republican lawmakers from major cattle states have also pushed back.
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy said he advised Trump against the plan, noting that many of the ranchers affected are MAGA Republicans. Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer, herself a cattle rancher, said lowering grocery prices cannot come “at the expense of American producers.”
Trump dismissed those concerns Friday.
“The ranchers are great; they’re my people. I love the ranchers,” he told reporters.
But consumers want lower prices, Trump said, and the foreign beef would provide “a little help.”
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