GOP senators have a beef with Donald Trump

There were rare signs of independence among U.S. Senate Republicans this week, as a few GOP lawmakers registered their public opposition to recent policy moves by President Donald Trump.

And it came on a most unusual topic.

After months of gritting their teeth about economic problems caused by Trump’s tariffs and trade fights, senators and advocacy groups from farm states erupted in recent days over the president’s call to import more beef from Argentina.

“We were not afraid to make sure the voice of our ranchers was heard loud and clear to JD Vance,” said U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., after GOP senators met with the vice president on Capitol Hill.

But why beef imports? Why was that the issue that suddenly brought GOP senators to life — most of whom have steadfastly refused to break with Trump on just about any subject?

“Cattle producers are coast to coast,” said Daines, who comes from a state where there are three times as many cows as people.

“Right now, government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle ranchers,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, a state where they like to say, “Beef is king.”

In Georgia, the idea of beef imports from Argentina sparked concerns from the Farm Bureau and the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association, which notes that cattle are raised in all 159 counties in the state.

“Just the mention of beef imports creates more volatility and uncertainty in rural America,” said Zippy Duvall, a third-generation Georgia farmer who heads the National Farm Bureau and runs a beef cow herd.

The outcry over beef imports came as a handful of GOP senators joined with Democrats and voted to repeal some of the president’s tariffs.

“A lot of people in Washington know tariffs are bad policy,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “They grumble behind closed doors but stay silent in public.”

Paul is one of the few Republicans who hasn’t changed his stripes on tariffs. Trump has become so frustrated with Paul that he didn’t invite him to a recent White House lunch for GOP senators.