Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and the four Iowans who serve in the U-S House are among 53 Republicans in congress who’ve signed onto a letter to President Trump, warning that American farmers and ranchers face significant headwinds. The letter says intervention in the cattle market threatens to pick winners and losers and undermine the long-term viability of family-owned cattle operations. It does not directly mention Trump’s decision to waive additional tariffs on 660 million pounds of beef imports over the next 90 days, in order to lower ground beef prices for consumers. Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U-S Senate, held her weekly conference call with Iowa reporters Wednesday.
During a stop at the Fair just hours after Trump announced his beef import plan, Hinson called it a bad idea. The letter she’s signed onto says long term certainty for the cattle industry can be delivered by fostering existing domestic demand and continuing efforts to expand overseas markets for American beef products.
Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Congressmen Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn all signed the letter, which begins by thanking Trump for his attention to issues impacting American consumers, farmers and ranchers. It ends by urging Trump to prioritize proposals which deliver long-term market stability and confidence. The U-S Justice Department has just announced its anti-trust investigation related to soaring beef prices now includes eight major grocery store chains as well as the nation’s four largest meatpackers. The grocery store chains under review include Walmart, Costco, Aldi and Amazon which sell beef to Iowans, as well as Kroger, Publix, Albertsons and a European company that operates grocery stores in other states.
