Cattle Rancher to Newsmax: Argentine Beef Threatens Food Safety

President Donald Trump's plan for the U.S. to buy more Argentine beef in an attempt to bring down prices for consumers could threaten food safety, one cattle rancher told Newsmax on Friday.

Matt Pearce, owner of Pearce Cattle Company, and Steve Lucie, a fifth-generation rancher, appeared on Newsmax's "National Report" to discuss the increase of beef imports from Argentina aimed at driving down food costs in the U.S.

Pearce warned that importing foreign beef could expose U.S. herds to dangerous diseases and undermine domestic producers already struggling with high costs.

"I appreciate the president's concern about our industry," Pearce told hosts Shaun Kraisman and Emma Rechenberg. "But my major concern about this whole thing is food safety and the chance of a foreign disease coming in like hoof and mouth, which would only raise prices further for the American consumer."

The eighth-generation cattle rancher added that U.S. ranchers already produce "the most nutritious and safe beef product in the world."

Pearce said national security concerns also extend to protecting the domestic food supply. He pointed to studies showing that a foot-and-mouth outbreak could cause as much as $188 billion in losses for American ranchers — costs that would inevitably be passed on to consumers.

"We need to be producing our own beef here domestically," he said. "All it's going to take is a foreign disease, and we'll have an even lower beef supply."

Lucie, who raises cattle in Illinois, said he appreciated Trump's engagement with the issue but believes the president should hear directly from independent ranchers rather than large industry groups.

"The president's kind of like cattle ranchers — we're independent, and when we get pushed on, we might bow up a little bit," Lucie said. "He had a group of lobbyists and big beef organizations around him. The independent cattle rancher doesn't always agree with what those lobbyists do."

Lucie criticized national trade groups such as the National Cattlemen's Beef Association for opposing country-of-origin labeling, a measure small ranchers say would help consumers know where their beef comes from.

"The president would do well to invite folks like Matt or myself to a roundtable," Lucie said. "We'd show respect to each other and find real solutions."

The ranchers' comments followed Trump's Truth Social post earlier in the week, in which he took credit for ranchers' recent profits but urged them to lower prices.

"The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well is because I put tariffs on cattle coming into the United States," Trump wrote. "They have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking."

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the U.S. "would buy some beef from Argentina" to ease prices.

Reports indicated the administration planned to quadruple the tariff-rate quota on Argentine beef imports to 80,000 metric tons, while also supporting domestic herd expansion through new U.S. Department of Agriculture initiatives.

Lucie said government intervention often backfires.

"Everything is higher for us — land, feed, taxes," he said. "But when ranchers make a profit, we expand the herd, and that's how prices come down. The market will correct itself if they just let us do our job."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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