Trump has signaled that he intends to allow 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free beef imports into the country over the next three months in a bid to low grocery costs.
Shane Wiseman is First Vice President of the Kentucky Farm Bureau and a cattle farmer himself. He says it's a decision that raises multiple red flags for his industry.
"I was disappointed. I appreciate the idea of trying to lower prices for consumers in the grocery, but the route that (Trump) went about that, I think, will have a very strong negative effect, in the short run and the long run both, on U.S. cattle farmers," he told WUKY.
The announcement spurred a rapid reaction in the markets, and Wiseman says he'll feel the effects in short order on his end.
"It'll affect me immediately," he said. "The next time I take a load of cattle to the stockyards to sell, it's going to affect me because prices are being driven down every day (due to) the order to import the beef."
And the imports come on top of other mounting concerns for farmers — from rising input costs, to difficulty taking out loans to buy land, to long-term worries when it comes to attracting young people to an industry that's seeing increasing instability.
A White House spokesperson said, while the administration is easing tariffs on beef, it is "simultaneously working closely with ranchers to grow America's cattle herd size," which is currently at a multi-decade low.