Oren Lesmeister, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in South Dakota, reacts to the announcement of 300,000 metric tons of beef being imported to the US in an attempt to lower beef prices.
President Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that the U.S. will import an extra 300,000 metric tons of beef for the next 90 days. That beef will not be subject to tariffs. Trump says that this foreign beef will be about 25% below market price in an attempt to make beef more affordable for American families. It's a move that some in the U.S. beef industry are calling disappointing. For more on this, we're going to speak again with Oren Lesmeister. He's a fifth-generation cattle rancher in Parade, South Dakota. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
CHANG: So, Oren, you came onto our show last November to talk about the effect of tariffs on the beef industry. Tell me now, how are you feeling about this latest announcement from President Trump?
LESMEISTER: Well, I think I'm probably feeling just about the way every other cattleman in the nation is feeling right now, again, a little betrayed and like we've had the rug jerked out from underneath us all of a sudden. You know, and I understand what he is attempting to do again. Didn't work last time. I don't think it's going to work this time.
CHANG: Well, tell me more about how you think this plan is not going to work. And by not working, you surmise, it's not going to make beef more affordable. Is that what you're saying?
LESMEISTER: Well, the two phases – one, I don't think it's going to make beef any more affordable for the consumer at the store, you know, maybe a couple of pennies – maybe. But not what he's hoping – 25% reduction, that just won't happen. The other side of it is he's wanting us to rebuild our cattle herd. That's the second phase of his plan because of this. And that is not going to happen either because…
CHANG: Wait, let me add some context to what you're saying right now because the U.S. cattle herd, it is much smaller than in years past. In fact, it hit a 75-year low earlier this year, right?
CHANG: Which has been a factor in higher prices – so you're saying that you do not think the president's plan is going to help you, cattle ranchers like yourself, rebuild your own herds in the meantime – because that's what President Trump is claiming is going to happen. You don't agree?
LESMEISTER: No, I don't for the simple fact that with the prices, the way they're dropping on the futures markets and stuff, and what we're going to get less for our cattle come fall – sell time here, you know, is just around the corner for a lot of producers taking their calves to market. Instead of retaining them back and making payments, your bank payments and note payments, we're pretty much going to have to sell everything we have to to make payments now. Everything we're going to probably keep home will end up in town so we can keep the bank satisfied.
CHANG: Can you talk to me a little bit, Oren, how business generally has been for you specifically, since we last talked last November?
LESMEISTER: For myself, I was able to sell my calves this spring, and they did fairly well. I made margins. I covered my costs.
LESMEISTER: But as the summer went on here, between whether it's in the grain markets and/or the cattle markets, you had a couple of opportunities, I'll say, to maybe lock in some pricing. If you didn't do it then and you've waited till now, things are going to get pretty grim.
CHANG: And then connect the dots or paint for me the ripple effects that you see. When you say things are going to get pretty grim, what does that mean to the beef industry in the U.S., and what does that mean to American consumers who want to buy beef at the grocery stores?
LESMEISTER: We're going to see this low herd count for a while. It takes two years from the time a calf hits the ground before it can have a calf of its own – for a heifer. So this is nothing that happens overnight. Bottom line is, we need cattle numbers.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, you know, as we both have seen over the last year and a half of the Trump administration, tariffs have been imposed, sometimes then withdrawn, and then sometimes imposed again. And I'm curious, how have you felt, as a cattle rancher, about the president's policies and decisions when it comes to American ranchers? Do you feel like you're at all a priority right now?
