The Associated Press reported that “President Donald Trump said that the United States could purchase Argentine beef in an attempt to bring down prices for American consumers.”
“‘We would buy some beef from Argentina,’ he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Florida to Washington, D.C. ‘If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.’ Trump promised earlier to address the issue as part of his efforts to keep inflation in check. “U.S. beef prices have been stubbornly high for a variety of reasons, including drought and reduced imports from Mexico.”
Trump has been working to help Argentina bolster its collapsing currency with a $20 billion credit swap line and additional financing from sovereign funds and the private sector ahead of midterm elections for his close ally, President Javier Milei.
Bloomberg’s Skylar Woodhouse and Ilena Peng also reported that “President Donald Trump said his administration had struck an agreement to bring down the price of beef for consumers during an event in the Oval Office recently.”
“Trump didn’t provide details on what the federal effort entailed but conceded that beef was one area where his efforts to fight inflation hadn’t paid enough dividends,” Woodhouse and Peng reported. “‘We are working on beef, and I think we have a deal on beef that’s going to bring the price’ down,” President Trump said. “That would be the one product that we would say is a little bit higher than we want it, and that’s going to be coming down pretty soon too. We did something, we worked our magic,” said the President.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
This proposal will not likely set well with U.S. beef producers. True, that normally we would be importing some beef from Mexico but, due to the New World Screwworm threat, those imports are on hold. We currently have a very good market for our beef producers and one that will eventually lead to expanding our herd, thus lowering retail prices, but that takes time.
Argentina will obviously benefit from such purchases as well as U.S. consumers. Politically this may be a logical choice that will help in the short run. If it helps control inflation and does not disrupt the current farm prices in the U.S., then everyone will end up in a good position. We’ll see….
Something to keep our eye on, but not enough at this point to say “don’t focus on livestock producers in your area”. In fact, now is a very good time to let them know about your inventory on AgTruckTrader.com®.
