Trump Sparks Rare GOP Pushback With Purchases of Argentine Beef

President Donald Trump has hit upon an issue that triggered some rare complaints from congressional Republicans: beef.

Farm-state Republicans, who represent most of the nearly 1 million cattle-ranch owners in the US, have criticized the president’s decision to quadruple the tariff-free quota on Argentine beef as counter to the America First agenda he’s long championed.

A gaucho gathers cattle on a ranch in Rosario, Argentina in August.

Photographer: Sebastian Lopez Brach/Bloomberg

“The economics in rural America right now is not sustainable,” said farmer and former Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester. The Argentine beef deal just “adds to that unsustainability across the board.”

Their general worries about trade may have been eased slightly by the ...