Ranchers and Republicans alike have pushed back on the beef plan

The Trump administration’s beef deal has met with stiff resistance from ranchers and Republicans, who argue that allowing more imports will do little to change the underlying conditions that have sent beef prices spiking, such as low herd sizes because of drought.

"Despite high beef prices in grocery stores, prices paid to farmers and ranchers for their cattle have fallen sharply over the past two months, and beef packing plants are shutting down across the U.S.,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement after the plan was announced.

"Further undercutting a fragile recovery by swamping markets with foreign products and attempting to manipulate prices threatens to wipe out any progress that has been made,” he added.

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[–] 7 points 2 months ago

Just like the last time we imported beef after costs ran high, it will do nothing to reduce the prices you see at the grocery store. The American beef industry focuses on different priorities when growing cattle for sale at grocery stores compared to most other countries. The American beef industry focuses primarily on higher end steaks, not lean trim. The imported beef will almost certainly be used elsewhere in industry, with little to no change to the prices you see as a consumer on the types of beef at the store.

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