Scott Bessent stirred a row after claiming that soaring beef prices in US are not linked to economic policies but to an alleged “invasion of cows” across the southern US border.The Treasury Secretary laid out his theory during a Sunday interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News. Bartiromo asked about the rising cost of meat and wanted Bessent’s perspective on the issue. He argued that the beef industry is in a “perfect storm” inherited from the former President Joe Biden administration. But he then blamed migrants from Latin America, saying, “Because of the mass immigration, a disease that we’d been rid of in North America made its way up through South America as these migrants brought some of their cattle with them. We’re not gonna let that get into our supply chain.”Earlier this year, the Department of Agriculture announced a suspension of live cattle, horse, and bison imports across the southern border due to an outbreak of New World Screwworm in Mexico. However, there is no credible evidence that migrants travelling to the US have been transporting livestock at a scale that could affect domestic beef prices, according to the Daily Beast. Likewise, there have been no confirmed cases of the disease in US since the outbreak began in Mexico last November. Bessent’s explanation went vital. Social media users pointed out how unlikely it is that migrants would carry cattle while making such a dangerous journey and noted that there is no verified link between border migration and US meat prices. Beef prices are affected far more by supply chain problems, feed costs, and economic factors than by disease outbreaks or migration.
