MADISON, Wis. — GOP Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany is already hard at work on his Wisconsin-last agenda—this time, he’s carving up the Wisconsin beef industry that’s struggling under backbreaking tariff taxes to give more handouts to Argentina. Tariff Lover Tom is already driving up prices for farm equipment like tractors and fertilizer—now he’s set on undercutting the price for agriculture products like beef too. Ranchers and farmers across Wisconsin are raising the alarm about this destabilizing policy while Tiffany sides with Argentina.
“Tom Tiffany is full MAGA — Make Argentina Great Again,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Emily Stuckey. “Tariff Tom is selling out our beef farmers while bailing out a foreign country — this is his Wisconsin-last agenda.”
Tom Tiffany proudly posted himself with far-right Argentinian President Javier Milei in apparent celebration of Milei’s election win after supporting Trump’s $40 billion bail out of Argentina’s flailing economy that allowed the foreign nation to strike a deal with China and increasing imports of Argentinian beef at the expense of Wisconsin cattle ranchers.
Read What Ranchers Have to Say on Tariff Tom’s Bad-for-Wisconsin Policies:
NEWS8000: “Wisconsin Farmer’s Union President Darin Von Ruden […] says the proposal is a betrayal of U.S. farmers, who he says will be paid less for their beef if the policy change happens. ‘What happened to America first?’ Von Ruden asked. ‘If we’re going to see a four times growth in the amount of beef that comes out of Argentina to the US, it just goes against everything that we’ve been led to believe that’s going to happen with this administration.’ […] ‘When farmers don’t have money, they don’t spend that money in town. They don’t buy the supplies. They, you know, sometimes it gets to a bad situation where they don’t even buy groceries locally anymore because they simply can’t afford to, you know, it’s a big problem.’”
WKOW: “WKOW spoke with Kevin Shelley, a beef farmer in Dane County, about his surprise at the administration’s decision and his desire for more pro-American farmer policies. ‘I’m a little surprised, because he generally doesn’t like foreign aid, yet he wants to help bail out the Argentinian economy,’ said Shelley. […] Shelley, who sells directly to consumers, noted that his small business might not feel the greatest impacts, but larger markets will. […] Instead, Shelley suggests focusing on policies that prioritize American farmers. ‘What we really need to do is to try to support beef farmers and all farmers domestically, to make sure that we’re producing what we can — more of what we consume here — to help grow our local economies, to help sustain small, independent domestic producers,’ said Shelley.”
MSNBC: “American ranchers are warning the move will threaten their livelihoods, calling it a ‘betrayal’ and a ‘slap in the face to rural America’ […] [Pocan] ‘it’s soybeans, it’s the beef, it’s all these other issues the tariffs are building up on the farmers and you know they just can’t sell their market like they used to, they don’t have a commodity that can go overseas, we have zero purchase orders from China for soybeans in Wisconsin and this cattle issue just on top of it–on top of giving money to Argentina–farmers are just really upset.’”Wisconsin State Farmer: “‘During the past five years, Argentina has shipped beef valued at more than $800 million to the United States, while purchasing only $7 million in U.S. beef,’ the NCBA said in its statement. […] In addition to using the move as a way to help reduce retail beef prices for U.S. consumers, it is likely another move to support Argentina’s economy and its embattled president Javier Milei. Just last week Trump said he would devote $20 billion through an ‘Exchange Stabilization Fund’ that would backstop Argentina’s peso with U.S. dollars in order to help the South American politician with whom he shares many political beliefs. (Milei’s disapproval ratings have risen to 55% ahead of a pivotal mid-term election that Trump is apparently trying to help Milei’s party win.) […] The cattle industry is unified in saying that the move to import Argentine beef would hurt U.S. producers while probably doing little to reduce the price of beef in grocery stores.”
