Trump Official Says Americans Saying ‘I’m Good’ With Surging Beef Prices - Newsweek

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said demand for beef remains strong despite rising prices, and Americans say they are “good with” paying more for meat to feed their families.

Affordability remains a pressing political concern for the Trump administration ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald Trump made combating high prices central to his 2024 election bid, but Americans still face high costs, including beef.

The cost of uncooked ground beef hit $7.16 per pound in August 2026, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rollins, during a Monday interview on The Benny Show, said there are several reasons beef prices remain high, blaming Democrats for working “to destroy our cattle herds” and “take them off of our grazing lands,” as well as the response to the New World screwworm.

She said high demand from the MAHA movement also plays a role.

“Bobby Kennedy and I, MAHA, flipped the dietary guidelines, put beef at the very top. People are like, I want beef. America eats more beef than anywhere else in the world. And instead of eating less beef, as the price continued to rise, which is supply and demand, Americans began to eat more beef,” she said. “Even though a price of a pound of ground beef was $6.50, most Americans say, ‘I'm good with that. I want this protein for my family.’ So they continue to buy.”

Newsweek reached out to USDA for further comment via email.

Beef prices have steadily increased over the past few years. Prices rose from $7.116 in July 2026 to $7.158 in August 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That marks a record high for beef prices, up from $6.631 a year earlier.

Rising beef prices have been attributed to a shrinking number of domestic cattle in the United States.

A June 2026 report from the lobbying group Coalition for a Prosperous America cited several reasons for the price increase, including that the number of U.S. cattle had fallen to 86.2 million, the smallest in 75 years. The report also says there are more than 450,000 fewer cattle ranchers than in 1997.

Drought has worsened the crisis, with 75 percent of the beef cow herd being raised in drought, according to that report.

The rising beef prices are just one challenge farmers and ranchers are facing, particularly as the price of diesel, which is critical for the agricultural industry, rises. As of Monday, the price of diesel averaged $6.5107 nationwide, according to AAA.

Rollins, during Monday’s interview, attributed rising costs to policies embraced during former President Joe Biden’s administration to combat climate change.

“The price went so high up under Democrats, and the cattlemen stopped expanding their herd under the Democrats. Why would you, when you're being told that you're destroying the world?” she said.

The Trump administration has taken steps to address rising beef costs.

Earlier in August, Trump signed two executive orders to help ranchers.

One order directed the Secretary of the Interior to determine whether gray wolves or Mexican wolves meet the criteria for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Trump also ordered the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture to update standards for compensating ranchers who have suffered losses due to predators.

Separately, the order included a review of country-of-origin labeling on beef products.

The second order directed USDA to prioritize investigations into potential Packers and Stockyards Act violations and expand Cooperative Interstate Shipment and Talmadge-Aiken programs to allow state-inspected meat to cross state lines, according to USDA.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly previously told Newsweek that Trump “has done more for American agriculture than anyone by negotiating new trade deals, expanding foreign market access, lowering input costs, bolstering the farm safety net, doubling the death tax exemption, ending taxes on rural property loan interest, creating rural opportunity zones, and more.”

Another Trump policy to bring down the price of beef has drawn scrutiny from the industry.

Trump announced in August that his administration would be waiving tariffs on some imported beef. He said the plan would allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported with “no out of quota tariff” over a 90-day period.

The president’s plan has faced criticism from ranchers and Republicans concerned about the impact on domestic cattlemen.

Trump’s August announcement drew criticism from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which said in a statement it is “disappointed” by the news.

“America’s cattle producers share the goal of keeping groceries affordable for consumers, flooding the market with government-subsidized, below-market beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd," NCBA Chief Executive Officer Colin Woodall wrote in a statement. "Cattle markets have already turned sharply lower this morning, to the detriment of farmers and ranchers.”

Senator Tim Sheehy of Montana was among the Republicans speaking out against Trump’s plan.

“The President’s heart is in the right place on wanting lower prices for the American people, and beef prices have been impacted by the Mexican screwworm,” he wrote in a post on X. “But the reality is this action will make it more difficult for American ranchers to rebuild our herd and bring prices down for the American people. And most importantly, this will harm our ranching families who feed the nation.”

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Sam Wilson.