The President of the United States, Donald Trump, this Wednesday (22) criticized the country’s cattle farmers, saying that they are only “doing well” because he taxed American meat imports, including those from Brazil, and asked producers to lower their prices.
The debate between the American president and industry associations began after Trump announced at the beginning of the week that the United States should import more beef from Argentina, a country governed by his ally Javier Milei, to lower prices.
In a statement, the National Beef Cattlemen’s Association (NCBA) said that its members consider that this “reward to Argentina”, with “expanded access to the American market”, could harm cattle farmers in the United States, “in addition to interfering with the free market”.
Today, Trump spoke about the subject in a post on Truth Social and cited the 50% tariffs on several Brazilian products that came into force in August, including beef.
“The cattle ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I have imposed tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% tariff on Brazil,” Trump wrote.
“If it weren’t for me, they would be exactly as they were for the last 20 years — in a terrible situation! It would be good if they understood that, but they also need to reduce prices, because the consumer is also a very important factor, in my opinion!”, said the Republican.
