Wyoming cattle ranchers and a sitting senator representing the nation’s most pro-Trump state are pushing back on the president’s plan to import tariff-free foreign beef from unidentified countries in hopes of reducing costs for American grocery shoppers.  Let out of the chute Friday, the Tr ump administration’s plan would allow more than 660 million pounds of ground beef to enter the United States over the next 90 days. All that beef could be sold at 25% below market rate. Stockgrowers and conservative rural-state Republicans quickly condemned the market intervention, warning it would harm western ranchers. On Monday, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso joined the fray.  “Americans want US beef on the table — not foreign imports,” Wyoming’s senior senator posted on social media. “Our ranchers don’t ask for special treatment. They simply want a fair marketplace. It needs to be easier — not harder — for Wyoming ranchers to feed America.”  U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, speaks to an audience before the antler auction begins at Elk Fest in Jackson May 20, 2023. (Natalie Behring/WyoFile) Barrasso’s office did not respond Tuesday to WyoFile’s request for an interview.  Barrasso’s rebuke marks one of the very few occasions that the senator from Casper has publicly opposed a Trump administration position. The Senate majority whip — the second highest-ranking Republican in the upper chamber — has been in office since 2007 and is typically in lockstep with the president.  A physician by training, Barrasso told Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Sept. 2025 that he was “deeply concerned” by the Trump appointee’s vaccine policies. And in November that year, the state’s senior senator also went on record in opposition to Trump’s demands that the U.S. Senate abolish the filibuster — a position he’s held consistently over the years.  Now this week’s rare beef is the latest well-publicized Trump-Barrasso policy disagreement.  Some of Barrasso’s cattle-raising constituents are equally concerned about the president’s plans. “During this time of drought and high-input costs, this does make a setback to the market,” Wyoming Stock Growers Association President Reg Phillips told WyoFile on Tuesday. “It hurts the producers, so that’s not a good feeling.”  Mark Teichert, standing, manager of the Wyoming Hereford Ranch near Cheyenne and Bill Shain, a veterinarian, preparing to release a Red angus bull after drawing a blood sample on April 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Robert W. Black, File) The Crook County Cattle Women also have expressed skepticism about the president’s plans. WyoFile’s efforts to interview the group’s board members weren’t immediately successful on Tuesday, but they questioned the president’s efforts on their Facebook page. “Who is this ‘they’ that sets beef prices? Packers? Feeders? Walmart?” the cattlewomen posted. “How are ‘they’ going to sell foreign beef for 25% less than American beef? I thought country of origin labeling was just impossible.”  The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has also criticized the president’s plans.  “Today’s announcement and other market interventions throw cold water on the prospect of herd expansion and sacrifices long-term stability for short term messaging,” Colin Woodall, the trade group’s CEO, said in a statement Friday. It remains unclear where the balance of Wyoming’s Congressional delegation stands on Trump’s beef import plans. Neither U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis nor U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman has made any public remarks about Trump’s plans and WyoFile’s inquiries with their offices on Tuesday did not yield a response before publication. Cattle graze along the Green River near Green River Lakes on Aug. 22, 2026. (Angus M. Thuermer Jr./WyoFile) Other western Republican senators also have bellowed about the plans.   “Flooding the market with foreign beef hurts our livestock industry and undermines the long-term solution: growing the U.S. cattle herd to meet demand,” Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican, said in a statement. Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy wrote on social media that the president’s “heart is in the right place,” but importing beef will “harm our ranching families who feed the nation.” And Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, said that while he appreciates the administration’s focus on grocery prices, “short term policy shifts do not equal long term solutions.”  When pressed by reporters, Trump did not reveal which country or countries the 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef would be coming from.  In the wake of a New York Times investigation that found wild horses — including from Wyoming — are being quickly transferred to buyers who are trucking them into Canada to be slaughtered, conspiracy theories and internet jokes have run rampant.  What exactly is that discounted mystery meat Americans are about to eat?   —The Associated Press contributed to this story The post Beefing over foreign beef plan, Barrasso breaks with Trump administration appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less