DENVER, Colo. — President Donald Trump is facing criticism from Colorado cattle ranchers after signaling support for quadrupling low-tariff beef imports from Argentina to ease record beef prices in the United States.
Argentina currently accounts for approximately 2% of the US beef imports.
Under current rules, Argentina can ship up to 20,000 metric tons per year at a lower tariff rate; any amount above that is subject to a 26.4% tariff. The White House said it plans to raise Argentina's quota to 80,000 metric tons per year.
The outrage was immediate from Democrats, cattle ranchers and even some Republicans. A statement from the Colorado General Assembly Democrats claims the resulting loss in Colorado would be 265 jobs and $80 million of economic output.
Thursday afternoon, Scripps News Denver anchor Shannon Ogden spoke with Curtis Russell, the president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association (CCA). Russell said the long-term impact of increasing beef imports from Argentina would be minimal.
The US consumes 12 million metric tons of beef per year, and 10 million is produced domestically.
Russell's concern is the immediate impact of the president's surprise announcement on cattle prices because this is the time of year when cattle ranchers sell their cattle.
"We're seeing the value of our calves go down 50 to 100 dollars a head. That's at a time of year when most Colorado cow-calf producers are right in the middle of their marketing season. This is our payday," said Russell.
Russell also agrees that beef prices are high right now. However, demand continues to increase at this price, which, to him, indicates prices are not higher than they should be. The CCA believes the free market should be left to work itself out.
"We're just simply not seeing the consumer back away. The consumer, at this point, has not felt that beef is too expensive. They continue to buy it at elevated prices. They have other options if they need to," Russell said. "Free markets work if we let them."
Cattle ranchers overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in the last election. Ogden asked Russell if they felt like this was not what they wanted from another Trump administration.
"Absolutely. I've had a number of conversations over the last few days with cattle producers of all types. I don't know there's a single one of them who's happy with what the president has proposed," Russell said.
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