President Donald Trump on Friday defended his decision to temporarily pause tariffs on imported beef, despite criticism from some US cattle producers.
“We want to get the beef prices down, so we’ll get them down a little bit, and that’s what people want. That’s what the voters want, and that’s what I want,” Trump told reporters on his way to South Carolina.
Calling ranchers his “people,” Trump said, “They’ve done a fantastic job. But they admit that we need a little help.”
Trump announced earlier Friday that the US would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported for the next 90 days without out-of-quota tariffs. He wouldn’t tell reporters which countries he’d made a deal with. “I don’t want to say which countries, but there are a few countries, but they’re going to be sending in the highest quality beef, and it’s something that we need,” Trump said.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association pushed back on Trump’s announcement, writing on social media, “No cow-calf producer in America is asking for increased imports. Undercutting American farmers and ranchers with inferior product from foreign competitors does nothing to create market confidence or encourage rebuilding the herd.”
