Farm-State GOP Slam Trump’s Argentine Beef Import Plan

For President Donald Trump, it was a brief musing to reporters aboard Air Force One about his plan to import beef from Argentina.

Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.), along with 11 other House Republicans, warned against Trump’s beef move.

For dozens of farm-state Republicans who have held their tongues as key Trump policies battered their constituents, it was the final straw, Meredith Lee Hill reported for Politico.

GOP lawmakers in cattle-producing states unleashed a flurry of calls over the following days to the White House and the Agriculture Department.

So far, the burst of objections has not generated a U-turn from the administration, which is going ahead with a beef import plan that Trump officials argue will both lower steak and hamburger prices for American consumers and bolster relations with a key Trump ally, Argentinian President Javier Milei.

Some of the president’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill had already watched for months as Trump’s tariffs devastated farmers. They had begged his deputies to reopen key farm offices during the government shutdown.

Then came what one GOP senator—granted anonymity to speak candidly—called “a betrayal of America First principles.” Even in the Trump-loyal House, key Republicans are pushing back.

Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) and Greg Steube (R-Fla.), along with 11 other House Republicans, warned against Trump’s beef move, according to a letter sent Tuesday to Agriculture Secretary Robert Rollins and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, obtained exclusively by Politico.

“We believe strongly that the path to lower prices and stronger competition lies in continued investment at home rather than policies that advantage foreign competitors,” they wrote.