The Trump administration is investigating allegations of antitrust violations occurring in the beef industry, according to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro.
Monday’s announcement follows a November 2025 directive from President Trump, asking the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into the meatpacking industry over allegations that it drove up the price of beef through illicit collusion, price-fixing, and manipulation.
The president’s directive was preceded by a September 2025 memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the DOJ, formalizing a partnership to protect competition in key agricultural markets.
Secretary Rollins highlighted during the Monday press conference that the consolidation of the meatpacking industry has led to 85 percent of the meat-processing market being controlled by only four meatpacking companies: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef. The latter two are Brazilian companies.
“It hasn’t always been that way,” said Rollins. “The rate of this four firm control has accelerated since the 1970s according to USDA data, concentration for cattle slaughter of these four was only 25 percent in 1977 and jumped to 71 percent by 1992. As mentioned today, it is an astounding 85 percent.”
This consolidation not only weakens cattle producers’ negotiating power when selling their cattle, but also gives these companies the ability to wield immense market power.
Rollins cited a 27 percent drop in cattle traded on the market the week after a 2019 fire at a Tyson slaughter plant in Kansas as an example.
Rollins also highlighted that because two of these four meatpackers, including the largest meatpacker in the world, are either foreign-owned or have significant foreign ownership and control, they are not only a threat to American cattle producers, “but a threat to America itself.”
One of the Brazilian-owned companies, which holds a quarter of the beef market, has a documented history of international corruption and illicit activities.
“For too long, farmers, ranchers and American consumers have suffered at the hands of consolidated power,” said Texas rancher Shad Sullivan, who also spoke at the press conference. “Just in the last generation, we have lost 665,000 beef cattle operations, which is 50% down from 1980.”
This has been driven by years of mergers and acquisitions of multinational corporations and foreign meat conglomerates that has created a level of economic and political power that too often escapes oversight and accountability.
Sullivan explained that this unrestrained market control not only creates increased input costs for producers, causing a decrease in profitability, but also drives up the cost of beef for consumers.
Senior Counselor Peter Navarro highlighted that the investigation is not just about price fixation practices, but also the influence of foreigners on the nation’s supply chain and the associated national security issues.
Rollins also highlighted the difference of this investigation compared with those conducted in the past.
“I think that perhaps more than ever before in American history, we now realize the threat to our sovereignty, to our freedom, to our liberty, as we look in total at the consolidation in America,” said Rollins. “But the biggest priority would be the consolidation at the hands of foreign countries and foreign-owned companies.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
