R-CALF USA Support Trump Tariff Strategy

As tariffs remain a highly controversial topic for the ag industry. R-CALF USA, CEO Bill Bullard shares his perspective on the potential impact of the tariffs on the cattle industry.

“Our organization was the only one that publicly came out and said, we support these wholeheartedly. And we explain, for example, that whenever our price point in the cattle industry reaches a level that would incentivize our industry to begin expanding our cattle herd, we see a flood of imports. And we saw that in 2024 we have a 1.6 billion pound deficit in the trade in cattle and from 2024 and that's a 37% increase than the last five year average.”

Bullard says the surge of beef imports to meet consumer demand has undermined industry incentives, making it harder to attract new producers and limiting the expansion of domestic beef herds.

“We argue that those 25% tariffs were absolutely necessary in order to level the playing field. Level playing we're importing beef from countries that have lower wages, that have lower production standards, that have lower less stringent environmental standards, and that have a huge advantage because they have weaker currencies, and our producers are experiencing a situation where these imports are displacing domestic production once again.”

R-CALF USA CEO, Bill Bullard.