Cattle graze in a field at the Amana Colonies, Aug. 28, 2025.

With the beef between President Donald Trump and the nation’s cattle producers brewing, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, praised the administration’s plan to support ranchers, but he said he opposed the president’s proposal to buy more Argentina beef and wished Trump would stop talking about it on social media.

Over the past week, Trump has said he wants to import more Argentinian beef to lower U.S. consumer prices, a proposal that's outraged U.S. producers. Trump responded on Truth Social on Oct. 22, claiming he was responsible for cattle ranchers’ improved profits, pointing to tariffs that include recent duties on Brazilian beef.

“The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil. If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years – Terrible!” the president wrote.

Asked about his social media post on Oct. 23, Grassley said in a call with reporters that “the president would be better off if he’d keep his mouth shut on that issue and not tweet about it."

“You aren’t going to win it. He should concentrate on what he’s doing to help the beef producers,” he said, praising the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement it would expand cattle producers' access to federal land for grazing, increase U.S. meat processing capacity and cut regulations.

Increased imports "would damage the incentive for U.S. cattlemen to raise" more cattle, Grassley said Thursday, adding that "undercutting American beef is not putting American first."

Recent years of drought has forced U.S. producers to trim their herds, which has cut beef supplies, Grassley said, while at the same time, consumer demand has not diminished, despite rising prices.

"It's economics 101, supply and demand," he said, adding that cattle producers are "doing what they can to meet the demand, but … building up a herd takes a long time."

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, also has concerns about plans to import more beef from Argentina.

"Our cattle producers in Iowa have had some tough market conditions for many years," the Iowa Republican told reporters Thursday in a call. "I do have concerns that importing beef from Argentina could lead to some more uncertainty and instability in our markets, so I’m going to continue to work with our farmers and with the Trump administration to pursue new markets for our producers and also lower food costs for American families."

With a 12- and 14-year-old, Hinson said she understands concerns about beef prices. "We go through a lot of ground beef in this house. I know what it costs – a lot. And we need to put the needs of Iowans and Americans first, while still supporting strong profitability for our cattle producers."

On Wednesday, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association called the president’s plan to import Argentinian beef misguided, saying that manipulating “markets only risk damaging the livelihoods of American cattlemen and women, while doing little to impact the price consumers are paying at the grocery store.”

And the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association called the president’s plan to import beef disconcerting.

“This administration needs to know and recognize that words matter,” the group said in a statement Wednesday. “Through President Trump’s continued rhetoric regarding beef prices, he continues to create undue harm to U.S. cattle producers, inhibiting their ability to make smart marketing decisions that directly impact their long-term profitability.”

Brent Johnson, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation president, also expressed concern Oct. 20, urging the administration to “resist actions that negatively impact the cattle farmers in Iowa and domestic beef production,” adding that it’s one piece of the state's farm economy that’s seeing profits.

This is the third year Iowa corn and soybean farmers expect to see losses, with corn prices about 50% lower than 2022 highs and soybeans down 41%, while production costs are among the highest on record.

Trump's proposal to buy Argentina beef exacerbates farm concerns, since it comes after his administration indicated in September it would provide the South American country with a $20 billion bailout. Shortly afterwards, Argentina dropped its taxes on soybeans, and China purchased shiploads of the crop.

China has paused U.S. soybean purchases, given Trump's escalating trade war with the world's largest soy buyer. The Iowa Soybean Association said last month the administration’s economic lifeline to Argentina was “poorly timed and inexcusable.”

“This is especially true considering the much-publicized financial pain U.S. ag has been experiencing due to an ongoing trade war with our country’s most reliable and significant purchasers of soybeans,” Iowa Soybean Association President Tom Adam said in a statement.

“With harvest underway in Iowa and throughout key soybean growing regions around the country, now is the time for making U.S. soybean sales, not empowering our competitors,” he said.

Trump has indicated he will help U.S. farmers hurt by ongoing trade wars, with the administration weighing $10 billion to $14 billion in assistance while the federal government is shut down.

Register reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Grassley says Trump should stop posting about Argentina beef imports on social media

Reporting by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register

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