America needs more lean beef trimmings to bring down the price of its hamburgers. But the Trump administration’s plan to source those lean beef trimmings from Argentina has many in Wyoming’s cattle industry shaking their heads.
Last week, President Trump signed the “Ensuring Affordable Beef For the American Consumer” executive order, which expands the amount of beef trimmings the U.S. can import from Argentina by 80,000 metric tons for calendar year 2026.
In a fact sheet accompanying the order, Trump said this is a step he’s taking to boost supply and make ground beef more affordable for American consumers.
But Wyoming cattle ranchers doubt it will actually affect any beef prices at the grocery store including ground beef, and they’re worried that it risks introducing diseases native to South American livestock in America.
“The problem is, Argentina has huge issues with foreign animal disease and their reporting,” Cheyenne cattle rancher and former National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Mark Eisele told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s always late or non-existent, and I — and most ranchers — should be really concerned about expanding imports from Argentina without increased inspection protocols and up-to-date audits.”
Strengthening Argentina’s inspection rates has been a longstanding ask, Eisele added.
“I think this puts consumers at risk, and I also think it puts our national cattle herd at risk, so most ranchers are going to be opposed to this,” he said. “We want to go back to our long-standing call for U.S. Trade Representatives and USDA and Customs and all the relevant agencies to strengthen those inspection rates.”
Jim Magagna, president of Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, had similar concerns about compromising safety.
“We’ve had issues in the past with Argentina not having what we deem adequate inspection systems to assure that no animal disease or anything was being brought in with their meat,” he said. "If we’re going to have more volume coming in, our feeling is that the USDA needs to do more to ensure that tight inspection standards equal to our own in this country are being required before that beef is brought in.”
Flood Of Boxed Beef Incoming
Trim meat is something that America must import, Magagna said.
“We raise a lot fatter cattle in this country,” Magagna said. “And to make ground beef that’s the right consistency, we need trim meat to mix with domestic meat.”
That could help with the supply of ground beef but won't substantially affect other cuts. And, too, the product, referred to by industry as “boxed beef" is likely to be a drag on market prices ranchers receive for cattle, Crook County cattle rancher and former state legislator Tyler Lindholm told Cowboy State Daily.
“My suspicion is that the only thing that will change will be the live beef prices,” Lindholm said. “And the live beef price is what the cattlemen actually receive. That number will go down due to the influx of Argentinian beef.”
Argentine beef is lower in quality and cheaper, Lindholm explained. Packing plants will want to buy as much of it as the Trump administration allows because it will improve their margins on ground beef.
“The packers are going to be supplied with a ton of boxed beef at a discount price via Argentina,” Lindholm said. “So, the market for that is going to be flooded. And so those prices they typically pay on live cattle and feeder cattle, that price is going to go down because they’re going to be flooded all of a sudden, by a mandate from President Trump.”
Lindholm doesn’t believe, however, that packers will lower their prices. He doubts consumers will ever see any of the cost savings.
“Packers are still going to make their buck,” he said. “This just improves packer margins is all it does. This is a sad deal and, unfortunately, President Trump went through with it.”
Eisele also believes the move is unlikely to affect grocery store prices in any meaningful way.
“I can guarantee, the grocery stores aren’t going to back off on their price," he said. “You see things go up. They almost never come down. The consumers are stuck where we’re at. The trick will be not to injure the animal industry.”
Not A Cure For High Prices
Eisele and Magagna said the move to allow more beef trimmings is unlikely to affect prices for other beef cuts at grocery stores.
Beef trimmings have a specific niche in producing ground hamburger meat. Having more of them won’t affect the prices of other cuts.
“I think the administration does not fully understand how complex the beef commodity market is,” Eisele said. “It’s one of the most complex commodity markets in the world. And even having been in it all my whole life, I still wonder how some of it works.”
Eisele believes what would help beef prices more than importing trim meats from Argentina is reopening the border with Mexico.
The Mexican border has been closed to cattle imports due to an issue with screwworms, but Eisele said he believes the country has adequately addressed the issue and that it’s now time to look at reopening the border.
“We do need the Secretary to do it in a phased way,” Eisele said. “She needs to start maybe at Arizona and then work toward Texas. I think that would be very good, because those ranchers (in Mexico) are getting beat up.”
Mexico Has Done Everything It Was Asked
Mexican cattle ranchers are getting 60% of their cattle’s value right now, while those feeding the cattle and selling it are making a killing. Opening the border would help address some market imbalances, Eisele suggested, while also helping consumers by boosting overall beef supplies, as opposed to just boosting a very limited category of beef cuts.
Eisele added that the National Cattlemen’s Association has had meetings with the delegation in Mexico, and that the country has done everything the USDA has asked of them.
“They’ve done everything American ranchers have asked,” Eisele added. “And our (Agriculture) Secretary hasn’t opened the border. Screwworm has complicated it, but they’ve passed all those checks, and we still don’t have any evidence that (the worms) are here. If screwworm gets into the United States, it’ll come from wildlife, it’ll come from dogs, it can come from people, but it’s not going to come in on cattle.”
That’s because Mexico is double and triple inspecting its cattle, Eisele said.
“Those ranchers do a nice job,” he said. “They go through multiple inspections.”
Argentina, meanwhile, has had issues in the past with things like foot and mouth disease, and has demonstrated that it is less than transparent when such things arise.
“They’re just not reporting it on time, because when they report it, it’s a setback for them,” he said. “They’d rather sneak it through the door than actually do what needs to be done.”
American Beef Sales To Argentina Unlikely
Right now, Eisele said there’s an emphasis on continuing to open new markets for U.S. beef. That may sound contradictory, but it all goes to how beef markets really work in the real world.
“If we don’t continue to do that, when we get the herd built back up, we can have a collapse of prices,” he said. “Because there’ll be no market to go to.”
As part of the administration’s moves, Argentina has agreed the United States may export more beef, however, that's not a market likely to buy American beef in appreciable amounts, Lindholm said.
“They’re not going to buy it,” Lindholm said. “They’ve got a much cheaper product down there. It would be great, but that’s not how this works.”
Magagna agreed with that assessment.
“I just don’t see that as a major market for us,” he said. “They’ve got their own beef, and it’s not where we particularly need to be with our beef, so it’s making us nervous.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
