Donald Trump’s latest economic brainwaves are alienating even his own party.
As the midterms loom, the president has pursued a curious strategy that has seen him start a trade war with the U.S.’s closest ally and undercut American farmers by flooding the market with cheap foreign meat.
It has sparked concern among some in the GOP, who fear that with affordability at the top of voters’ agendas, any misstep by the president could have catastrophic consequences.
“We need to focus on affordability, but I think this isn’t the way to do that,” Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures in a conversation about Trump’s plan to import 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free meat from an unknown source.
It’s not just meat that Republicans have beef with, after tariff negotiations between the U.S. and Canada collapsed on Friday and plunged the two old allies into a trade war.
They had been at the negotiating table after Trump sought a 50-percent import levy on $20 billion of Canadian goods, which Prime Minister Mark Carney now says will be reciprocated “dollar for dollar.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine didn’t sugarcoat her frustration, writing on X on Saturday that she believes Trump’s actions would directly hurt her constituents’ wallets.
“If the administration proceeds with these tariffs, they will increase costs for Maine families, as most businesses will have no choice but to pass on the tariffs to their customers through higher prices,” she said.
Collins, who chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriations,urged “both sides to return to the negotiating table” and “reach a fair agreement.”
Also attacking the Canada tariffs was Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board said the “dumbest trade war in history” had just got “dumber.”
Polling shows Americans are increasingly concerned about his handling of the economy. An August Reuters/Ipsos poll found that, for the first time in almost a decade, Democrats were preferred to Republicans as stewards of the economy, while a Focaldata poll last week found that a majority of voters felt they had gotten worse off under Trump.
It has led to suggestions that Republicans up for election are trying to sidestep tough questions about the president in what could be perceived as an effort to distance themselves from him on the economy.
“People are not talking to me about Trump,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, when asked by ABC News to grade Trump’s economic performance.
Others have said they had directly warned Trump off his beef policy.
Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana—where cattle outnumber humans almost 2-to-1—said he had “advised President Trump against this course of action for a year,” the New York Times reports.
It has sparked outcry in the industry.
“We understand why beef prices are a problem right now. Ground beef is averaging $6.89 a pound, up 57 percent since 2021, and that’s real pressure on American families,” meat delivery subscription service Good Ranchers wrote on X.
“But flooding the market with 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef with no tariff for 90 days is not a solution for American ranchers. It’s a short-term price fix that puts more downward pressure on the cattle producers who are already struggling to stay viable. Trump has not said which countries this beef is coming from or who committed to the 25 percent price reduction he’s promising.
“American cattle ranchers have been dealing with years of drought, high feed costs, and a shrinking herd. The answer to that is not more cheap imported beef with lower standards competing against them on shelves with no country of origin label required to tell you the difference.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
