Vice President JD Vance got an earful from furious Senate Republicans who fear President Donald Trump's beef import deal will be a political disaster, Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio reported on Tuesday.
"Vance was bombarded with questions about the Argentinian beef issue, per multiple attendees. GOP senators told him it was an 'insult' to farmers/ranchers," Desiderio posted to X. After several minutes of this, Vance then reportedly asked those in attendance, half in jest, “does anyone have questions NOT about beef?”
Trump's plan to import huge amounts of beef from Argentina has a twofold objective: to assist allied president Javier Milei recently secured an election victory for his party following months of polling uncertainty, and to bring down beef prices, which have been skyrocketing in the United States in recent weeks.
However, the move has angered American cattle ranchers, who face losses from a sudden and unexpected surge of competition from overseas, and has left a number of Senate Republicans representing agriculture-dependent states blindsided and scrambling to fix the situation.
Trump, who himself faced intense questioning from GOP senators over the beef imports plan last week, took to his Truth Social platform shortly after to double down and blast the ranchers opposing his plan.
"If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years — Terrible!" he wrote. "It would be nice if they would understand that, but they also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!"
