Trump’s Argentina beef import plan worries ranching industry

“If we buy some beef now — I’m not talking about that much — from Argentina, it would help Argentina, which we consider a very good country, a very good ally,” Trump said Sunday.

Asked on Air Force One whether a beef deal would benefit foreign cattlemen at the expense of American ranchers, Trump did not directly answer.

“Argentina is fighting for its life,” he said. “Nothing is benefiting Argentina.”

The NCBA’s Woodall said any attempt by the Trump administration to interfere with market forces in the beef industry would “harm rural America.”

“Argentina has a deeply unbalanced trade relationship with the U.S.,” he said in the statement, noting that $801 million worth of Argentinian beef has been sold to the U.S. market since 2020. American farmers, by comparison, have sold just $7 million of beef to Argentina during the same period.

“Argentina also has a history of foot-and-mouth disease,” said Woodall, “which if brought to the United States, could decimate our domestic livestock production.”

A spokesperson for the Argentinian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the NCBA statement.

But the potential beef deal comes as the Trump administration goes to extraordinary lengths to help Argentina and its beleaguered president Javier Milei, an early Trump ally whose party faces crucial midterm elections later this month.

“I happen to like the president of Argentina. I think he’s trying to do the best he can,” Trump said Sunday. “And if we buy some beef — now I’m not talking about that much — from Argentina, it would help Argentina, which we consider a very good country.”

In recent weeks, the Treasury Department has announced plans to organize a total of $40 billion in currency swaps and loans and other financial aid for Buenos Aires to boost Milei’s administration.

The libertarian president has pushed through an unprecedented privatization agenda, coupled with severe austerity measures and cuts to the civil service. But his efforts have faltered with voters, prompting a run on Argentina’s peso.

A White House representative did not respond to a request for comment on the beef proposal.

Trump’s support for Milei has already come in for criticism from another part of the U.S. agricultural industry: America’s soybean farmers.

Shortly before Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an initial $20 billion in U.S. support for Argentina, Buenos Aires announced it would suspend its export taxes. Within days, China purchased a reported seven million metric tons of soybeans from Argentina.

Meanwhile, China imported zero soybeans from American farmers in September. This marked the first time China has effectively embargoed U.S. soybeans since November 2018, the last time Beijing feuded with the Trump administration.