Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins took to social media Saturday to celebrate a series of new “commitments” from China – namely, the export of American beef, an announcement that came amid U.S. beef prices reaching their highest level in recorded history, sparking a considerable backlash from MAGA-aligned figures.
“Proud to confirm that our deal-maker-in-chief [President Donald Trump] has done it AGAIN!” Rollins said in a statement. “American beef – the best beef in the world! – will be back on the shelves in China soon. They are implementing beef commitments, including resuming imports from 17 states.”
The announcement came just one day after a report from Yahoo Finance that found that beef prices in the United States had eclipsed $7 per pound “for the first time in history,” leaving many conservative or MAGA-aligned figures dumbfounded.
“We just relaxed tariffs on importation of Argentinian beef because the lack of U.S. supply relative to demand was jacking up prices, but now we are going to export the U.S. beef we were told we were short on to China? Make it make sense,” wrote Sean Davis, the co-founder of the conservative magazine The Federalist who was described by The Daily Beast as a “leading MAGA mouthpiece.”
Self-described “America First” Republican and former congressional candidate David Giglio also expressed confusion at Rollins’ announcement given the historic spike in U.S. beef prices.
“How about we focus on having affordable beef on the shelves in, I don't know, America???” Giglio wrote in a social media post on X.
According to Yahoo Finance, beef prices in the United States have skyrocketed by 77% since January 2020, “when ground beef stood at $3.89 per pound.” The “beeflation,” as Yahoo Finance referred to it, could spark price increases in a number of products, including burgers from popular fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King.
Anthony Aguero, a correspondent for the right-wing news network Real America’s Voice, expressed shock at Rollins' announcement in a curse-laden social media post, and Wendy Patterson, a popular right-wing commentator and self-described MAGA supporter, called the Agriculture chief the “dumbest secretary in [Trump’s] Cabinet.”
“Beef that the American people can't afford to buy because Brooke scumbag Rollins keeps telling us that we have a shortage of American Beef because of small herd sizes,” Patterson wrote in a social media post on X to her nearly 200,000 followers.
“The small herds didn't prevent her from selling American Beef to feed CHINA. Fire her globalist a-- already.”
How about focusing on making beef affordable....right here in the United States? Or nah? https://t.co/WsOB4IFE6a
— Steve Ferguson (@lsferguson) May 16, 2026