碎牛肉价格刚刚创下每磅6.92美元的历史新高，比五年前美国人支付的价格高出近60%。
Ground beef just hit a record $6.92 a pound, nearly 60% more than Americans were paying just five years ago.
对于数百万家庭而言，牛肉并非牛排馆里的肋眼牛排，而是他们饮食中最大的蛋白质来源。它是烤架上的汉堡、塔可之夜的馅料、肉饼，或是慢炖锅里的烤肉。
For millions of families, beef isn't a ribeye at a steakhouse; it's the largest source of protein in their diet. It's hamburgers on the grill, taco night, meatloaf, a roast in the crockpot.
美国并没有忘记如何饲养牛群。我们只是让这件事变得更难了，而美国家庭正在为一个不允许本国牧场主为其提供食物的国家付出代价。
America didn't forget how to raise cattle. We made it harder to do it, and American families are paying the price for a country that won't let its own ranchers feed it.
“他为什么要这样对我们？”：共和党人警告，特朗普政府推动进口外国牛肉正在伤害其基本盘。特朗普政府正试图迅速提供救济。一项临时命令于9月1日生效，扩大了30万吨进口瘦牛肉碎的低关税准入范围，在牛群重建期间向市场投放更多牛肉。这一举措在牧场地区并未受到欢迎。生产者认为，在需要更高价格来证明重建牛群合理性的关键时刻，向市场倾销更便宜的外国牛肉会压低牛价。
‘WHY WOULD HE DO THIS TO US?’: TRUMP'S FOREIGN BEEF PUSH IS HURTING HIS BASE, REPUBLICANS WARN The Trump administration is attempting to bring relief quickly. A temporary order took effect Sept. 1, expanding lower-tariff access for 300,000 metric tons of imported lean beef trimmings, putting more beef in the market while the herd rebuilds. It did not go over well in ranching country. Producers argue that flooding the market with cheaper foreign beef pushes cattle prices down at the very moment American ranchers need stronger prices to justify rebuilding the herd.
但问题从来不是我们应该进口多少牛肉。真正的问题是，为什么在地球另一端饲养和加工牛肉，将其运输数千英里到美国并在此销售，会比在国内直接生产更便宜。
But the question has never been how much beef we should import. The real question is why it can be cheaper to raise and process beef on the other side of the world, ship it thousands of miles to America, and sell it here than to simply produce it at home.
是的，美国的工资更高，美国的牛肉也是世界上最好的，而且美国人已经表明他们愿意为此买单。但这些都无法完全回答这个问题。
Yes, American wages are higher, American beef is also the best in the world, and Americans have shown they'll pay for that. But none of that fully answers the question.
真正的答案是：外国牛肉跨越大洋抵达纽约市货架上的难度，比内布拉斯加州牧场主的牛肉跨越州界进入爱荷华州还要小。一位在其本州检查计划下加工牛肉的牧场主，该计划已被美国农业部认证为等同于联邦标准，仍然无法将他的肉类销售到一英里外的边境另一侧。官僚体系建立了一套制度，使得进口比向邻州销售更为简单。而这仅仅是问题的一部分。
Here's what does: foreign beef can cross an ocean and land on a shelf in New York City more easily than a Nebraska rancher's beef can cross the state line into Iowa. A rancher who has his cattle processed under his own state's inspection program, one the USDA has certified as equal to the federal standard, still can't sell that meat one mile over the border. The bureaucracy has built a system where importing is simpler than selling to a neighboring state. And that is only part of the problem.
看看牛肉加工行业就知道了。四家公司控制着美国约85%的牛肉加工产能，其中两家由巴西资本控股，而这一比例在1980年仅为36%。这绝非自由市场。严苛的监管、繁琐的许可程序以及运营符合联邦标准工厂所需的巨额资本成本，高得令人生畏，只有少数几家企业能够承受。这是一种由政府助长的垄断。小型加工厂无法开设竞争性的工厂，因此巨头们依然庞大，而在全美广阔地区饲养并销售育肥牛的养殖户，最终只能面对一两个买家。当销售端缺乏竞争时，生产者无法决定价格，只能接受对方开出的唯一报价。
Just look at beef processing. Four companies, two of them Brazilian-owned, control roughly 85% of American beef processing capacity, up from 36% in 1980. This isn't the free market. Crushing regulations, excessive permitting, and the capital cost of running a federally compliant plant are so steep that only a handful of operations can absorb them. This is a government-enabled monopoly. A small processor can't open a competing plant, so the giants stay giants, and cattle producers finishing and selling fed cattle across enormous stretches of the country are left with one or two buyers. A producer without competition for offtake doesn't set the price. He takes the only one he's handed.
同样的情形也出现在牧场主试图利用自由市场，直接向真正想要其牛肉的本地消费者销售时。一位邻居若想直接从隔壁牧场主那里购买四分之一头牛的牛肉，却无法简单完成交易。动物必须经过受检设施处理，如果最近的设施远在数小时车程之外，且预约已排满数月，这笔交易便根本无法发生。本可以以合理价格直接向消费者销售、完全绕开遥远屠宰商的牧场主，并非因需求不足而被阻挡，而是因为附近没有合法完成屠宰作业的场所。
The same scenario shows up again when a rancher tries to tap the free market and sell straight to locals who actually want his beef. A neighbor who wants to buy a quarter of beef directly from the rancher down the road can't just buy it. The animal has to go through an inspected facility, and if the nearest one is hours away and booked out for months, that transaction simply doesn't happen. Ranchers who could be selling directly to consumers at a fair price, cutting out the distant packer entirely, are blocked not by a lack of demand but by a lack of anywhere nearby to legally get the job done.
布鲁克·罗林斯、莫妮卡·克劳利：美国家庭农场250年来一直支撑着国家的强大。美国牛群数量已降至75年来的最低点，美国牛肉产量正在下降，而巴西已超越美国，成为全球最大的牛肉生产国。牧场主群体本身也在消失。仅从2017年到2022年，美国拥有母牛的农场数量就减少了近10.7万个。
BROOKE ROLLINS, MONICA CROWLEY: AMERICA’S FAMILY FARMS HAVE KEPT US STRONG FOR 250 YEARS The American cattle herd is at a 75-year low, and U.S. beef production is falling while Brazil has overtaken us as the world's largest beef producer. And ranchers themselves are disappearing. From 2017 to 2022 alone, the number of U.S. farms with beef cows fell by nearly 107,000.
在消除使牧场主处于不利地位的各种壁垒之前，他们无法参与竞争。这正是特朗普总统目前正在努力推动的事情。
American ranchers cannot compete until the barriers putting them at a disadvantage are torn down. That is exactly what President Trump is now trying to do.
特朗普将邀请农民和牧场主出席白宫晚宴，以庆祝贸易和税收方面的胜利。9月4日，他签署了两项行政命令，旨在加强美国畜牧业并扩大牛肉市场的竞争。这些命令指示联邦机构减少监管壁垒，扩大州级检验肉类跨州流通的机会，支持中小型和区域性加工厂，现代化检验流程，并为牧场主提供更多加工和销售自有牛肉的选择。
TRUMP WILL WELCOME FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO WHITE HOUSE DINNER TO CELEBRATE TRADE, TAX WINS On September 4, he signed two executive orders aimed at strengthening American ranching and expanding competition in the beef market. The orders direct federal agencies to reduce regulatory barriers, expand opportunities for state-inspected meat to move across state lines, support smaller and regional processors, modernize inspections, and give ranchers more options for processing and selling their own beef.
就在上周，美国农业部又迈出了新的一步，宣布计划帮助各州启动或扩大其自身的肉类检验项目，为更多本地加工厂参与竞争敞开大门，并赋予牧场主更多将牛肉推向市场的选择。
And just last week, USDA took another step, announcing plans to help states start or expand their own meat-inspection programs, opening the door for more local processors to compete and giving ranchers more options for getting their beef to market.
这些改革直击问题核心，通过增加加工产能、为牧场主提供更多销售渠道，并削减横亘在美国牛肉与美国消费者之间的繁文缛节。
These reforms go straight at the problem by creating more processing capacity, giving ranchers more ways to sell, and cutting the red tape standing between American beef and American consumers.
这些举措并非牛肉行业独有。与1960年至1990年的平均水平相比，联邦木材采伐量下降了约75%，尽管国家森林中仍矗立着大量待伐木材。如今，在美国获得新矿山的许可平均需要七到十年，而加拿大仅需两到三年。我们用官僚主义将美国工业压垮，以至于从其他地方购买成品反而更便宜。
None of this is unique to beef. Federal timber harvests are down roughly 75% from their 1960-1990 average, even as national forests sit full of standing timber. It now takes seven to ten years on average to permit a new mine in the United States, compared to two to three years in Canada. We bury American industry under bureaucracy until it's cheaper to buy the finished product from somewhere else.
点击此处阅读更多福克斯新闻观点。在一个由官僚而非牧场主主导的体制下，我们永远无法重建我们的畜群，也无法重夺全球牛肉超级大国的地位。数十年的监管使美国最古老的产业之一处于系统性劣势。牧场主不需要施舍。
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION We will never rebuild our herds or reclaim our title as the world's beef superpower under a system run by bureaucrats instead of ranchers. Decades of regulation have put one of America's oldest industries at a systemic disadvantage. Ranchers don't need a handout.
他们需要的是做最擅长之事的自由：养活美国。这正是特朗普试图赋予他们的。
They need the freedom to do what they do best: feed America. That's exactly what Trump is trying to give them.