During my annual Farm Tour, I heard from farmers and ranchers across the Eighth District about the challenges our farm economy is facing, particularly the negative impact the Biden Administration’s inflation and supply chain crises have had on input costs. There has been longstanding, widespread concern: soybean and cotton farmers are facing some of their lowest prices in decades, and most row crops are facing significant challenges. Farm families across the country continue to feel the pain because input costs remain high, interest rates are squeezing family operations, and our farmers are competing on an uneven global playing field because the Biden Administration was completely out to lunch on trade.

On October 17, President Trump suggested purchasing beef tariff-free from Argentina as a means of bringing the cost at the supermarket down. While I agree with the president that, despite lower inflation, the cost of food is still too high for many working families, I strongly disagree with the idea that purchasing beef from Argentina will have a meaningful impact on prices at the store. Many cattle farmers have reached out to me to express concerns that they are being unfairly blamed for the high cost of beef when so many policies from the previous administration are still having huge impacts on their operations. I completely agree with them. The price of feed, fertilizer, fuel and equipment, to name a few, has significantly outpaced the price of beef. The United States should not purchase beef from foreign countries tariff free that do not give our own farmers equal access because it will not meaningfully lower the cost for Americans at the grocery store, and it will only hurt small ranchers who have struggled to get by for the last four years.

I want to be very clear: our cattle farmers are not to blame for the price of beef at the store. In fact, thanks to their hard work and innovation, the cost of beef for the average American remains roughly the same, relative to wages, as it was in the 1980s. But those same producers cannot continue carrying the weight of Washington Democrats’ reckless economic policies that fueled runaway inflation and failed to open new markets for our exports.

Given the tremendous importance of this issue to our communities in Missouri, I spoke directly with the president this week about the concerns of U.S. cattle farmers. I know President Trump to be a fighter for rural America, and I know he wants to and will get these policies right for our farmers. Already, his administration has achieved significant market access deals for U.S. beef with the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia – with more on the way. I shared with the president about how unfairly our ranchers are treated by the large meatpackers, who control 85 percent of the market, and how we could expand on the successful country of origin labeling from his first term to help American consumers seek out American beef – which we all know is the best in the world – at the grocery store. I also shared why purchasing beef tariff free from Argentina would be devastating to America’s cattle producers who are struggling just to get by.

As discussions continue about imports of Argentine beef, I will continue to share my concerns with the administration and President Trump himself. Over a five-year period, Argentina has exported $801 million worth of beef to the United States, while importing only $7 million of U.S. beef in that same time frame. That is not a level playing field, and importing more beef from Argentina would only put our farmers at a further disadvantage.

During his first term, President Trump met with farmers at the White House who told him, “Sir, we don’t want anything. We just want a level playing field.” U.S. farmers and ranchers  want fair trade and new markets to sell their products. I tell folks that the main group of people the president’s tariffs are intended to help are our farmers, who have been locked out of selling the best food anywhere in the world for far too long. Rural America does not ask for much. They just want a fair shot and a government that has their back. We must not undermine the progress we have made by going forward with the proposed importation of Argentine beef.