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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the US is considering beef imports from Argentina to reduce the number of cattle at a record high this year.
Rollins said in an appearance on CNBC’s “squawk box” that he is preparing to announce a plan to import beef from Argentina, as the prices of existing beef inventory are falling to multi-decade lows.
“The President has talked about it a few times, I think you’re going to hear more and more what that looks like,” Rollins said. “In America, we use 12 million tons of meat, 10 million of what we produce here in America, but two million I’m talking about we’re about to close.”
Agriculture Secretary Brokellins Ourlooke Rollins speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rollins said that within 2 million metric tons, there is a difference between world beef versus lean beef. He added that imports from Argentina “will not be much” compared to 12 million metric tons of beef.
The secretary of agriculture also noted that the Department of Agriculture in the US (USDA) will be closely monitoring the importation of foot and mouth disease due to the outbreak affecting cattle in Argentina.
Cattle are shown at the Columbus Cattlemen’s Auction in Columbus on Oct. 8, 2025. (Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle / Getty Images / Getty)
“Argentina is also facing the problem of foot-and-mouth disease, where we at the USDA have to make sure that our animal industry is safe. And I know you’ve heard a lot about the screwworm that comes from Mexico, foot-and-mouth is also a challenge,” said Rollins-.
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“We will ensure that our livestock industry is protected,” he added. “This is a very, very complicated market that we are going through every possible way to make sure that we have a good future for these ranchers.”
The head of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Colin Woodall told FOX Business in a statement that “family farmers who work with families” have many problems importing Argentinian meat for low buyers. “
Cattle are shown at the Columbus Cattlemen’s Auction in Columbus on Oct. 8, 2025. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images)
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“This plan alone creates chaos at a critical time of year for American cattle producers, when they do nothing to lower prices at the grocery store,” Woodall said.
He also noted that the US and Argentina have had an “unbalanced trade relationship,” with meat sales from Argentina totaling $800 million in the past five years when $7 million of US beef was sold in Argentina.
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Woodall warned that the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease “could determine our domestic livestock production.”
