WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump says the United States will temporarily allow up to 300,000 metric tons of beef into the country tariff-free over the next 90 days. The move, Trump said, is an effort to being down ground beef prices for American consumers while at the same time giving the U.S. cattle herd time to recover.

U.S. beef prices remain elevated and the nation’s cattle herd is near historic lows.

The move has drawn comments  from U.S. cattle producers, who have argued that increasing imports will not address the underlying supply shortage that has pushed beef prices higher.

“You don’t put America first by putting U.S. cattle producers last,” U.S. Cattlemen’s Association President Justin Tupper said in a statement. “This move will weaken our markets and gamble with food safety in the process.”

The 90-day window referenced would extend the effort to lower consumer prices through November’s midterm election.

“U.S. ranchers have endured years of low cattle prices and trade uncertainty, and now they are being used as pawns in a 90-day political timeline,” Tupper said. “We rely on consumers’ trust in our product and flooding the supply chain with foreign beef on a price fixed basis risks eroding that trust and driving people away from beef. The recent recall of beef from Argentina showed clearly that our current system is already strained.”

According to Tupper, imposing a blanket halt on tariffs and guaranteeing cheaper pricing on imports only adds risk for consumers and undermines confidence in the food system.

“We want Americans to be able to buy beef, but prices cannot be pushed down at the expense of food safety. That’s a sure way to make certain nobody wins,” Tupper said.

Tension has trickled down to the state level as well. Lindsey Hall, president of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA), said the import planned by the Trump administration is on shaky ground.

“The U.S. cow herd is at historically low levels,” Hall said. “We’re at the point where we need to start rebuilding that herd. In order to rebuild the herd, the producers need to have confidence in the marketplace. This kind of uncertainty and volatility is not good for your cattlemen, it’s not good for your consumer, and it’s not gonna help us address the root cause, and that’s our tight supplies and tight inventories, and the only way to do that is to grow the cow herd.

“Ohio cattle producers are committed to providing American families with the safest, highest-quality beef in the world, but artificially interfering with the cattle market through increased imports is not the answer to higher grocery prices.”

Hall said cattle producers continue to face historically high costs for feed, land, equipment, labor and nearly every other input required to raise cattle.

“Today’s strong cattle markets are finally providing producers with the opportunity and confidence to invest in rebuilding the U.S. cattle herd,” Hall said. “Policies that undermine those market signals risk discouraging that investment and creating greater uncertainty for the long-term beef supply. The OCA stands with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in advocating for policies that strengthen, not undermine, American cattle producers.”

Dave Maples, executive vice president of the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association, said the move undermines the confidence of producers in his state.

“With all the ups and downs of uncertainty already with this business this move with the tariffs only unsettles the confidence of producers,” Maples said. “This all makes producers very nervous. Standing pat is about all they can do and it’s sad that politics gets into all we do. And the tough part is there’s a lot of cattle to be sold in the next 90 days. The timing of all this is not good. On the flip side, beef demand has been good. We just need consistency with our political leaders.”

Brian Shuter, executive vice president of the of the Indiana Beef Cattle Association, said the announcement by the Trump administration has caused tension among his state’s producers.

“Just the announcement of the importation of the extra beef has already sent shockwaves through the market the past few days and we’re seeing a lot of volatility in the markets,” Shuter said. “The amount of beef that’s being imported is going to have more of an effect on live cattle markets and producers’ income than it will have on the retail price of beef and what consumers are seeing.

“What’s being imported is a small percentage of what we consume in the U.S. The problem is this all creates uncertainty among producers, especially those who have ideas of expanding their operations and looking for market signals that there will be demand for their beef. This move by the administration alters the producers’ comfort level going forward. It’s hard for them to think of expanding their herd when they don’t know if the government is going to provide some artificial effect on the market that’s adverse to what they’re planning to do.”

The timing of the imports, Shuter said, comes at a bad time.

“A lot of producers are weaning calves at this time and making a lot of marketing decision, so it’s not a great time for something like this to be happening,” Shuter said.

In response to the administration’s announcement to import up to 300,000 metric tons of beef over the next 90 days, major cattle and agriculture industry presidents unified in composing a letter, urging the president to “reverse course and instead work with U.S. producers on solutions that strengthen domestic cattle production, support fair and competitive markets, and protect America’s long-term food security.”

 That joint letter was signed by Tupper; American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall; Joe Goggins, president of the Livestock Marketing Association, and Gene Copenhaver, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.