Mississippi cattle producers and politicians are worried that President Donald Trump’s plan to suspend tariffs and cut a deal to import more cheap beef to the U.S. will hurt the state’s farmers and potentially cause long-term damage to an industry already facing high costs and record low herd numbers.
“This policy does not help the U.S. herd-rebuilding efforts and could possibly do permanent damage,” the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and its president, Mike McCormick, said in a statement. “Instead the Administration should focus its time and energy on reducing fuel and input costs for American agriculture that could result in lower prices for all American consumers.”
The Trump plan brought rare, if mild, dissention from Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, one of Trump’s staunchest allies who has generally supported Trump’s trade policies. She and her husband are cattle farmers.
Trump recently posted on social media that over the next 90 days he will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported into the U.S with lower tariffs in an effort to bring consumer prices down. According to reporting from Bloomberg and the New York Times, the president is expected to sign an executive order removing the tariffs in the next few weeks. Trump has said he has struck a deal for foreign importers to sell the beef at 25% below current market prices.
Additional beef imports would happen ahead of the November midterm elections, as politicians focus on high consumer costs.
The cattle industry is an important part of Mississippi’s economy, and beef is one of the state’s top five agricultural commodities. It had about a $640-million production value last year according to Josh Maples, an agricultural economist at Mississippi State University Extension Service.
Maples said the state has over 14,000 cattle farms and most are small farms with about 30 head of cattle each.
“There’s a lot of people involved. Even more so than some other crops or commodities you might think about. They may have a higher value of production but fewer total people involved,” Maples said.
Smaller herds, rising costs
The American cattle herd has been shrinking and is at a 75-year low, in part because of continued droughts and rising operating costs. Maples said that producers were unprofitable for many years and chose to sell their cows for meat instead of expanding their herds, a lengthier process that involves predicting where the market might be in a few years.
Constrained supply and strong consumer demand has resulted in sky-high prices.
In July, ground beef was $6.89 per pound according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, nearly double what it was 10 years ago and up 10% from July of last year. In his post, Trump wrote that the imported beef will be sold at 25% below current market price.
Agriculture groups warn that while the infusion of cheaper, imported beef could lower consumer prices, it could prevent the U.S. from rebuilding its herd.
“Higher production costs combined with downward pressure on cattle prices will not encourage producers to retain heifers, expand their herds or invest in additional cattle production,” the Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association wrote.
Maples said the lack of details available right now is causing uncertainty and market volatility which could impact what producers do as they decide whether to sell their heifers or keep them to build up their herds.
“It doesn’t give detail about where they would come from and in particular, what matters is, are these additional imports that we weren’t going to get or is it the same beef just coming in at a lower tariff,” Maples said of Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the lower tariffs.
This is already a big year for imported beef, but whether the 300,000 metric tons are included in already expected imports or will be new would determine how much of a shock the imports would cause market. Mississippi producers say that even a small amount could have a significant impact on their bottom line.
The Cattlemen’s Association said producers and consumers need “certainty and a fair marketplace — not government actions that create additional volatility and downward pressure on cattle prices.”
Mississippi politicians weigh in
Livestock is one of Mississippi’s most valuable agricultural commodities. The state’s cattle industry was valued at over $700 million in 2025 according to the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Mississippi politicians took to social media to voice their support for American beef.
Hyde Smith, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a post on social media that she had been to the White House to express concerns about the impact of cheaper imports on farmers. She said she would “promote policies that help farmers and ranchers grow our domestic herd without leaning on foreign beef to paper over the problem.”
Scott Colom, a Democrat challenging Hyde-Smith in the November midterm election, has said she is doing too little to help Mississippi beef producers. “Cindy Hyde-Smith gave away Mississippi’s voice on tariffs,” Colom said.
Statewide officials including state Agriculture Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Andy Gipson and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, a potential gubernatorial candidate, posted on social media that the focus should be on lowering costs and supporting U.S. beef producers.
“We need to double down on supporting and buying American beef, not foreign imports,” Gipson wrote on social media.
Hosemann wrote: “Importing more foreign beef at a lower rate is not the way to significantly lower prices for Mississippi families.”
Hyde-Smith and other Mississippi Republicans did not refer to Trump in their posts nor did they directly mention tariffs. But for Hyde-Smith this represents a rare, if tepid, break from the president.
In a February interview, when asked about what Republicans would do to get rising beef prices down, Hyde-Smith said that lower fuel prices at the time could help lower overall costs.
“You have so many proteins to choose from and all commodities go through peaks and valleys,” Hyde-Smith said. “You know it is a global market, but we will be seeing a difference, I truly believe, because of so many things.”
But the U.S. war with Iran has caused fuel and fertilizer costs to increase.
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