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With less than two months to go before high-stakes midterm elections, U.S. President Donald Trump is facing fierce—and rare—blowback from a key constituency and Republican lawmakers alike.

The U.S. agricultural sector has been in an uproar over Trump’s recently announced plan to boost imports of ground beef at a reduced tariff rate, part of a broader effort to drag down record beef prices. Ground beef prices surged yet again in August, powered by tight supplies and continuously strong demand for the staple meat. The plan, which was announced last month, would see 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings enter the country for 90 days. It comes as the sector reels from surging energy and fertilizer prices, ongoing trade whiplash, and sweeping cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

With less than two months to go before high-stakes midterm elections, U.S. President Donald Trump is facing fierce—and rare—blowback from a key constituency and Republican lawmakers alike.

The U.S. agricultural sector has been in an uproar over Trump’s recently announced plan to boost imports of ground beef at a reduced tariff rate, part of a broader effort to drag down record beef prices. Ground beef prices surged yet again in August, powered by tight supplies and continuously strong demand for the staple meat. The plan, which was announced last month, would see 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings enter the country for 90 days. It comes as the sector reels from surging energy and fertilizer prices, ongoing trade whiplash, and sweeping cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the country’s largest agricultural lobby, blasted the move as a “gut punch to ranchers’ bottom line.”

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis also heaped on the criticism. “If you think that providing subsidized beef for some period of time is going to make farmers happy and prices go down on a systemic basis, you’re wrong. Doesn’t happen,” he told reporters last month.

As midterms loom, that backlash could prove consequential.

“We’ve got 71 days” until the election, Tillis added at the time, “and right now we don’t have a positive message to tell farm........

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