Cattle ranchers express concern about U.S. plan to boost foreign beef imports - CBS News

President Trump announced on Truth Social last week that the U.S. Will ease tariffs on up to 661 million pounds of ground beef imports, letting that product sell at 25 percent below market price. The deal is set to take effect September 1 and covers lean beef trimmings, which processors blend with higher-quality domestic beef to make ground beef. The White House posted a description of the proclamation on its official website.

For ranchers across the South Plains, the timing stings. The region's cattle industry has been fighting through years of drought and herd liquidation, and producers say they were counting on stronger prices to finally rebuild numbers. Selling foreign beef at a steep discount directly undercuts that math.

The concern is straightforward: if cheaper imported trimmings flood the ground beef supply, domestic cattle fetch less at the sale barn. Ranchers then have less reason, and less money, to expand their herds. Recovery that was already measured in years could stretch further still.

The U.S. Cattle herd is currently near its smallest size in decades, a squeeze that was already pushing grocery store beef prices higher before this announcement landed.