Bipartisan backlash, led by Midwest politicians, rises against Trump's comments on beef industry

SLEEPY EYE, Minnesota — At the Sleepy Eye Auction Market on Wednesday, between sales of fattened steers and a shaggy Highland bull, chatter drifted to farm country’s latest beef with the White House: President Donald Trump’s plan to buy more beef from Argentina.

Few at the southwestern Minnesota cattle auction barn thought it would make a dent in grocery prices for families. But that didn’t mean they wanted to criticize Trump.

“The economy is what’s going to affect the cattle market more than anything,” said Dean Ibberson, a 50-year cattle industry veteran. “We have to have enough people having jobs that can afford to buy the beef at the high prices. ... If we lose that market, then that’s what’s really gonna hurt.”

But a much more vocal, widespread and bipartisan backlash has erupted among leaders of cattle industry trade groups and politicians in Washington, D.C., to both Trump’s comments about Argentina and his suggestion that U.S. ranchers should lower prices.

“This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices,” said Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, earlier this week.

The beef cattle issue has become partisan. The Trump administration deal on financial currency swaps with Argentina might provide a boost of up to $40 billion at a critical time for the country’s president, Trump ally Javier Milei, ahead of midterm elections there.

Argentina has dropped tariffs to increase soybean sales to China. Those orders replaced those from the U.S. producers, especially Minnesota where soybeans until this year have been the state’s largest export.

Former Minnesota Democratic congressman Collin Peterson, who served as longtime chair of the agriculture committee, said he can’t fathom the administration’s rationale.

“The people that know anything about this know that it’s not a good idea to be importing beef from [Brazil and Argentina] for a lot of different reasons,” Peterson said. “And it’s not a good idea to offset the marketplace in China for soybeans.”

On Capitol Hill, the ranking agriculture committee Democrats — Minnesota’s Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig — also lambasted the Trump administration in interviews Wednesday.

“Talk about a royal screw-up,” Klobuchar said.

Craig said she had 25 to 30 farmers in her office last week, describing the rage farmers feel about the White House as “overwhelming.”

Eight Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Trump on Tuesday asking for more information on his plan to import Argentine beef, according to Reuters.

“(We) urge your administration to ensure that any future decisions are made with full transparency, sound science, and a firm commitment to the U.S. cattle industry,” said the letter, led by Rep. Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota.

Reps. Brad Finstad and Michelle Fischbach, both Republicans who represent Minnesota rural districts, did not respond to requests for comment.

In Sleepy Eye, at least publicly, the criticism of a president largely beloved in Minnesota’s cattle country was more subdued.

As feeder cattle trotted into the barn, Gary Roiger held up his thumb to bid. His wife, Patricia, cradled their granddaughter, Stately, who was named after Stately Township in Brown County, where the family has 2,000 cattle.

The Roigers said they hope Trump’s plan will include labels on imports from Argentina.

“Let the consumers decide if they want to eat American beef,” Patricia Roiger said.

Eating beef has become increasingly expensive for Americans. Ground beef has risen from $5.54 a pound in January to $6.31 a pound in August, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Even prior to Trump taking office, beef prices were historically high. The national cattle herd remains small because of drought, disease and high feed costs, among other reasons.

Wednesday morning, Trump posted to Truth Social that cattle ranchers were “doing so well” for the first time in years because of the 50% tariff he placed on Brazil. He also said in that post that U.S. ranchers need to lower the price of their cattle “because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”

His administration released a plan Wednesday across agencies that it said would boost the U.S. cattle supply, including exploring the expansion of grazing on federal lands and increasing payments in some livestock programs, according to Reuters. It also includes enforcing compliance of voluntary “Product of USA” claims on beef products.

Some have blamed corporate consolidation in the beef-packing business for high prices. Boyd Kesler, a cattle buyer at Tyson Foods, who sat front and center at the auction in Sleepy Eye, said it has been tough for his business, too.

“Profitability has not been good for the packers,” Kesler said. “But the guys that are feeding have done pretty well.”

A 2,400-pound cull bull, an older animal removed from the herd, sold for $1.75 a pound on Wednesday. The auction house said that’s double what the owner would have gotten five years earlier.

Samantha Ediger-Johnson, the Sleepy Eye auctioneer, shook her head at the market’s rise.

“It has been crazy to watch this market do what it’s been doing,” she said.

Other cattlemen said that while beef prices are high, the prices to run their farms have risen too.

Analysts say Trump’s Argentine beef buy could be more political than practical at driving down costs. The South American country is the eighth-largest supplier of beef to the United States, far lagging Australia, Canada and Brazil, the biggest sources of beef imports.

“[There’ll be] almost zero impact on price at the grocery store,” said Eric Mousel, a beef systems management specialist with the University of Minnesota’s North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids, Minn. “Imported beef is really just used in the production of hamburger and won’t have much influence on total industry output.”

Last year, the United States imported more than 4 billion pounds of beef, a record high and dramatic increase from just two years earlier.

Minnesota is 10th in the nation for beef production, with roughly 18,000 ranchers and farmers scattered across the state, from feedlot operators concentrated in the southwestern prairies to cow-calf ranches farther north.

Gary Roiger said he knows some older farmers getting out of the market because they’re afraid that if beef prices crash, they’ll be too old to wait for the recovery. They’ll have to wait, he said, to see if whether Trump — who ran on an America-first platform – is serious about importing more foreign beef.

“Who knows what the president will do?”