America's largest association of cattle ranchers says Trump's plan to lower beef prices is 'undermining' farmers - Business Insider

Trump announced the U.S. Would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported with no out-of-quota tariff over a 90-day window. The NCBA fired back on X, saying the move is not about helping producers. For ranchers on the South Plains, where cattle operations are woven into the economic fabric from Lubbock out to every small town on the caprock, a flood of cheaper imported beef undercuts the price they can get at market.

The association was blunt: "Today's announcement is not about helping producers." That kind of language from the largest cattle trade group in the country signals a serious fracture between the White House and an industry that typically aligns with Republican agricultural policy. Ranchers who have already absorbed rising feed and fuel costs now face the prospect of competing against a wave of tariff-free foreign beef. Their public break with a sitting Republican president is one of the more striking moments for the beef industry in recent memory.