"Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, and the manufacturing policy director Pete Navarro held a joint press conference to provide an update on their antitrust investigation of the Big Four meatpackers, which combined control more than 85 percent of the U.S. beef processing market. This investigation began with President Donald Trump's November request, in which he accused the packers of "driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation." Blanche said his department has reviewed more than 3 million documents and contacted hundreds of ranchers, cattlemen, producers and processors in the six months since."
"With this action the administration is taking on hardcore government investigation- and litigation-survivors. The largest of the packers, JBS, is a Brazilian conglomerate whose owners pled guilty in 2020 to a bribery scheme that financed their original entry into the American market. In 2023, the Biden Antitrust Division filed a civil suit against Agri Stats, the data intermediary the packers allegedly used to coordinate; that same year, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation to break up meatpacking, and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), in his capacity as then-Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, investigated JBS for "turning a blind eye as parts of its supply chain burn down the Amazon, push the world toward climate catastrophe, and undercut American ranchers"."
"More recently, not to be outdone by the Trump administration, Senate Democrats led by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have introduced their own legislation to break up the dominant meatpackers. And McDonald's, Target, Kroger, Sysco-everybody who is anybody is suing the Big Four. All Americans should pray for their breakup. But even that won't be enough. Antitrust needs to be paired with tariff protection if American ranchers can finally enjoy a functioning home market. Ranchers need"
A joint update was provided on an antitrust investigation into the Big Four meatpackers, which together control more than 85% of U.S. beef processing. The investigation followed a presidential request alleging illicit collusion, price fixing, and price manipulation that drove up beef prices. The Attorney General reported reviewing more than 3 million documents and contacting hundreds of ranchers, cattlemen, producers, and processors over six months. The action targets major packers with prior legal and political scrutiny, including a bribery-related guilty plea by JBS owners and earlier civil litigation involving a data intermediary. Multiple lawmakers and major companies have pursued related efforts, including breakup legislation and lawsuits. Antitrust enforcement is presented as insufficient without tariff protection to support ranchers in a functioning home market.
Read at The American Conservative
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