Cheap imports, high stakes: WA ranchers sound alarm over 90-day beef deal

President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that the U.S. will allow up to 300,000 tons of ground beef to be imported tariff-free for 90 days is drawing sharp criticism from cattle producers in Washington.

“Government interaction in a free market is always the worst action and decision that could be made,” Jack Field, executive director of the Washington Cattle Feeders Association, said. “It’s a swing and a miss.”

Trump announced the plan in a Truth Social post Friday, writing that he had “concluded a deal to substantially lower the price of ground beef for working American families.”

He said importers committed to selling the beef at 25% below current market prices, adding, “This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again.”

WA ranchers say cheap beef imports hit at the worst possible time

The move comes as the domestic cattle herd sits at a 75-year low, a shortage driven by prolonged drought, high production costs and an aging base of ranchers.

Field said the timing couldn’t be worse. Late summer is when ranchers across the Pacific Northwest sell off older cows from their herds — animals that end up as ground beef. That revenue is one of the biggest paydays of the year for many operations, and now they’ll be competing directly with cheap imports.

“Allowing 300,000 metric tons to come in and compete against that key component is very troubling,” Field said. “You only have one opportunity to sell a calf or to sell a cow.”

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association also criticized the announcement, with CEO Colin Woodall calling it the third time in less than a year that the president has moved to increase beef imports.

Field urged the administration to step back and let the market correct itself, noting that even if producers begin retaining heifers now, meaningful herd expansion is still at least two years away.

“The most help they can do is stay out of the market,” Field said. “The market was working.”

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