President Donald Trump said his administration is looking at buying more beef from Argentina to drive beef prices down in the US. That sparked outcry from American beef producers.
President Trump told reporters on Sunday that he'd consider purchasing more beef from Argentina to drive down beef prices to help the consumer.
Beef prices in the US have increased over the past couple decades due to a variety of factors, including a parasite in Mexican cattle.
The National Cattleman’s Beef Association responded saying the plan “only creates chaos…while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices.” That same sentiment spread to South Dakota producers.
US Sen. Mike Rounds echoed similar concerns on the social media platform X. He wrote that he had conversations with President Trump and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.
I spoke with President Trump and Secretary Rollins today about the concerns I’ve heard from hundreds of South Dakota ranchers over the last two days regarding importing additional Argentinian beef. We agree that we need an America First game plan that prioritizes American…
— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) October 21, 2025
Rounds said the conversation left him “encouraged” that the administration would “do right by the American producer.”
Rounds said he’s pushed Mandatory Country of Origin, or MCOOL, Labeling on all beef.
He said that adding in more foreign competition on the beef market without being able to differentiate where it came from “would only exacerbate the problem and hurt domestic producers.”
Warren Symens is the President of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association and a rancher, farmer and cattle feeder in the state. He called MCOOL a non-factor when it comes to the consumer.
"If we do that, and people start seeing that and they decide they don't want that beef, you're going to remove a whole sector of the consumer out of the beef market," Symens said. "Because if all they did was purchase American grown beef, they wouldn't be able to afford it."
He said that would really drive beef prices up. Symens claims as they stand today, the reason beef prices have risen is due to inflation.
Symens added while you never want to hear the government is going to set competition for an American grown product, it's not as bad as it sounds.
"We realize we're already importing some beef from Argentina. I think they're about number 10 on the list of importers," Symens said. "And it's lean product; it's not high-quality product. It's lean product that would get mixed with our high-quality product. It really wouldn't move the needle very far."
However, he said just talking about it on a national scale affects the markets, something he called "dangerous."
“The biggest issue is when word comes out of Washington, then markets hiccup. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with fundamentally with what’s actually happening int the country when it comes to cattle being bought and sold. Cows were selling higher this week again," Symens said. "So, it’s not like that’s going to drive the market down when it comes to the actual product. But when we’re talking about the more injury and things like that, it causes those kinds of things to hiccup and that can cause uncertainty."
He said that is the biggest problem: the amount of uncertainty that goes along with such statements out of Washington DC.
On Wednesday, President Trump posted on Truth Social saying while he loves cattle ranchers, the only reason they're doing well for the first time in decades is because he "put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States...If it weren't for me, they would be doing just as they've done for the past 20 years — Terrible!" He added that he is factoring in the consumer as well.
Those claims are something Symens said he can't get behind.
"I would say that that factors in very little. I would say that he isn’t listening to the people in the industry and he isn’t listening to the representation from South Dakota that’s been talking to him when they tell him otherwise," Symens said. "That is so far from the honest truth that fundamentally that doesn’t even make sense.”
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include additional information, including comments from Symens.
