Trump says foreign beef will lower prices. Black farmers warn they’ll pay the price
TheGrio...
National Black Farmers Association president John Boyd says Trump’s import plan could push more struggling Black farmers out of business.
President Donald Trump is facing backlash from American farmers and members of his own party after announcing a plan to import tariff-free foreign beef to reduce grocery store beef prices by 25%. But the nation’s leading organization for Black farmers says they will suffer greater consequences as a result of this latest move, and a culmination of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI policies and the president’s tariffs.
Trump announced his beef plan last week to lower costs in the United States, where beef prices are near their highest level at $6.88 per pound.
“This deal will reduce prices for Americans while giving space for our Great American Beef Herd to grow again,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post.
The announced plan was quickly slammed by congressional Republicans who warned that increasing imports of ground beef at a lower tariff rate would hurt American ranchers, forcing them to lower their prices to compete.
John Boyd, president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association, says that Trump’s latest move will especially hurt Black farmers, who are disproportionately suffering during Trump’s second term.
“What about Black farmers here in the United States who are losing our damn farms?” Boyd told theGrio. “He’s really gonna be putting more farmers out of business.”
Since returning to the White House, Trump has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to eliminate federal programs that provided critical grant and loan funding for Black and other disadvantaged farmers, who have faced decades of racial discrimination by the USDA.
“This administration is anti-Black. They want nothing to do with anything that is Black in this country,” argued Boyd, who pointed out a series of actions already taken by the Trump administration that have disrupted markets, including Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on foreign imports that have driven up costs.
Boyd is throwing cold water on Trump’s claims to bring down beef prices. He said his plan will instead bolster the four major beef suppliers with a “price break” that won’t lower consumer prices.
“You’re not going to see any lower prices at a grocery store. What he’s doing is allowing the four major meat packers to buy beef at a lower price,” he explained.
While Trump did not specify which country the United States would be importing more beef from, it will likely be Argentina, whose president, Javier Milei, is a close ally. In October 2025, Trump offered a $20 billion buyout for Argentina, declaring that the South American country was “fighting for its life.”
Boyd noted that raw beef from Argentina has already been recalled for failing to complete a mandatory federal reinspection and argued that beef from U.S. farmers is simply of better quality.
“There ain’t no beef like U.S. beef. They’re buying this cut-up stuff. It’s fats and grinded up stuff, and from what I understand, it’s gonna be going to places like McDonald’s and Burger King,” he said. “We don’t know if it’s safe or not. We don’t know where it’s coming from.”
Rather than helping out Argentina or other foreign farmers, Boyd said the Trump administration should invest in more U.S. programs to help farmers, especially Black farmers in the cattle industry.
As farmers more broadly express their opposition to Trump’s new plan to import foreign beef, Boyd told theGrio that things are so dire that white farmers are coming to the National Black Farmers Association for advocacy help with banks because they, too, are facing foreclosures due to rising costs.
“I think the white farmers are starting to catch on to his smoking screen. He says he loves them, but there are a lot more white farmers facing farm foreclosures than there are Black. A lot of them are being sold out,” said Boyd. “You know it’s a bad situation when white farmers are asking a Black man to help them.”
Still, at least 300 Black farmers are part of the National Black Farmers Association and are facing foreclosures. Boyd said that while the organization would typically provide some level of assistance, it cannot afford to. He told theGrio, “That is what USDA should be doing, providing assistance to these farmers. But instead, they cut all of the programs that were designed to do that.“
Boyd is ringing the alarm not just for Black farmers but the entire farming industry.
“This administration is taking away our freedom to farm and choose the type of food that we buy,” he said. “Food is coming from so many different regions of the world, and we’re losing 77 farmers a day in the United States.”
While some Black farmers may lose their farms if interventions are not implemented, Boyd told theGrio, “We’re going to keep pushing.”