Cattle producers were surprised and disappointed Friday to read an announcement from President Donald Trump that he plans to lower beef prices by importing “up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff” for the next three months.

Blaming the current high beef prices on the previous administration, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that he has “a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices. This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”

As cattle prices moved lower Friday in response to the statement, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Chief Executive Officer Colin Woodall said they were disappointed. “While America’s cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd,” said Woodall. “This is a critical time of year for cattle producers, as we approach the season where they are making decisions regarding their herds. Cattle farmers and ranchers are responding to strong market signals and historically high demand, and we are already working to rebuild after years of ongoing drought, high input costs and other challenges that have reduced U.S. cattle numbers. Today’s announcement and other market interventions throw cold water on the prospect of herd expansion and sacrifices long-term stability for short term messaging.”

“Farmers and ranchers are extremely disappointed to learn that President Trump plans to flood the American market with hundreds of millions of pounds of foreign-raised beef,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “The U.S. is already importing beef at record levels. This decision would be an unprecedented move and would translate to nearly an additional 60% increase in imports over the next 90 days.”

Duvall notes that, despite high beef prices in grocery stores, prices paid to farmers and ranchers for their cattle have fallen sharply over the past two months, and beef packing plants are shutting down across the U.S. Further undercutting a fragile recovery by swamping markets with foreign products and attempting to manipulate prices threatens to wipe out any progress that has been made. Just a week ago, Tyson Foods announced closure of its beef processing plant in Joslin, Illinois.

Farmers and ranchers overall have been strong supporters of President Trump, but this move has troubled even ranchers like Amanda Radke of South Dakota, who has traveled to Washington D.C. several times to visit with the Trump administration and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. “This was very difficult to read this morning from President Trump. Frustrated and disappointed is an understatement,” Radke wrote on X Friday.

“The U.S. rancher can and will rise to the occasion of the growing demand for beef, but that requires confidence to invest and rebuild the cow herd,” said Radke. “This is a challenge if we are continually getting kicked in the teeth by the government, creating volatility and uncertainty at a time when it should be full steam ahead for producers.”

Radke will be discussing the issue on The Heart of Rural America podcast this weekend.