'Sizable' number of senators confront Trump over looming beef crisis

President Donald Trump's newest beef importation plan has Republican senators up in arms in a way they rarely are with this administration.

Trump specifically wants to import large amounts of beef from Argentina, which, in his thinking, will both stabilize beef prices domestically and give yet another economic shot in the arm to Javier Milei, the libertarian-leaning Argentine president Trump considers an ally and wants to help through a tough upcoming election. He is separately planning a currency swap worth tens of billions to bail out Argentina as well.

According to Notus, Republican senators gathered together for a meeting with Trump to express their concerns about the beef issue in particular, as many of them represent states where ranching is a crucial part of their economy.

“If you flood the market, that hurts beef producers badly,” Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), who owns a cattle ranch himself, told reporters. “Hopefully we’ve given him some thought as he goes forward and makes a decision on this.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has generally opposed Trump's protectionist trade policies, said their about-face on Argentine beef in particular is very strange. “It seems to go against the administration, who says, on the one hand, ‘We’ve got to keep out foreign goods — oh, except for Argentinian beef,’” he said.

Some senators spoke out even before this meeting, with Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) posting to X, "Bottom line: if the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’t the way. Right now, government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle ranchers."

This comes as ranchers in general, who are a reliable Republican voting bloc, have expressed their own anger about the proposal — and after his tariffs have triggered tension with other GOP lawmakers in farm-heavy states that worry their constituents' ability to export will suffer in a trade war.