President Donald Trump‘s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox News that Trump is “very very frustrated” about the rising cost of beef in the U.S. and the pushback from American cattle ranchers.
Note: Trump said U.S. cattle ranchers “don’t understand” how they have benefitted from his tariffs, and wrote on social media: “They also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!”
Rollins claimed that the President is trying to “bring down costs” and blamed the Biden administration for “working to get cattle off the lands” and “worrying about climate change.”
Brooke Rollins on Trump and American cattle ranchers: “There is frustration on both sides. I was with the president yesterday and he is very very frustrated because everything he’s done to cut taxes, bring down costs. The last administration worked to get cattle off the lands.… pic.twitter.com/OgctnnWGDg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025
Note: Through the USDA Rural Development program, the Biden administration provided farmers and ranchers “funding for climate-smart practices, making it easier to report anti-competitive behavior, and offering loans and grants to rural communities.” Some industry groups including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) opposed some of the policies in the program and sued the EPA.
That same association, the NCBA, is now at odds with the Trump administration. On X, the NCBA announced: “Cattlemen and women cannot stand behind President Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef. It is imperative that @POTUS and @SecRollins let cattle markets work without interference.”
.@realDonaldTrump @WhiteHouse Cattlemen and women cannot stand behind President Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef. It is imperative that @POTUS and @SecRollins let cattle markets work without interference.
If the…
— National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (@BeefUSA) October 22, 2025
The NCBA announcement continued: “If the administration is truly an ally of America’s cattle producers, we call on him to abandon this effort to manipulate markets and focus instead on completing the promised New World Screwworm facility in Texas; make additional investments that protect the domestic cattle herd from foreign animal diseases such as FMD; and address regulatory burdens, such as delisting of the gray wolf and addressing the scourge of black vultures.”
The cattle industry’s complaints are a reaction to Trump’s potential support for increasing low-tariff beef imports from Argentina, currently capped at 20,000 metric tons, to bring down record high beef prices for U.S. consumers. A Trump administration proposal meant to ease this consumer pain would increase the Argentine imports allowed at the low tariff rate to 80,000 metric tons — or fourfold. The U.S. is the world’s top beef producer, producing more than 12 million metric tons annually.