Ranchers Duke Phillips III, prepares to rope a calf during the final branding at Chico Basin Ranch in Hanover, Colorado on June 29, 2024.
Helen H. Richardson | MediaNews Group | The Denver Post | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said U.S. cattle ranchers “don’t understand” how they have benefitted from his tariffs, adding that they “have to get their prices down.”
The admonition came after some ranchers have openly criticized Trump’s proposal to import beef from Argentina in order to bring down prices for American consumers.
Trump claimed that those ranchers “don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States.”
He highlighted the 50% tariff he imposed in early August on imports from Brazil, one of the top sellers of beef to the U.S.
“If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!” he added.
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