Trump accuses foreign-owned meat packers of inflating U.S. beef prices and calls for investigation

Raul Rubero, lead butcher at Deep Cuts butcher shop cuts single portions of bone-in steaks as he breaks down a side of beef, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused foreign-owned meat packers of driving up the price of beef in the U.S. and asked the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation.

The Republican president announced the move on social media days after his party suffered losses in key elections in which the winning Democratic candidates focused relentlessly on the public’s concerns about the cost of living. But experts said it’s unlikely that an investigation would result in lower prices at grocery stores, and a trade group representing meat packers said they’re not to blame.

Trump did not present evidence for his claims, writing on social media that “I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.”

He said he was taking the action to help ranchers, who were recently angered by his suggestion that the U.S. would buy Argentine beef to bring down stubbornly high prices for American consumers.

“We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation’s food supply,” Trump said.

Why beef prices have climbed

Beef prices have soared to record levels in part after drought and years of low prices led to the smallest U.S. herd size in decades. Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, a major beef exporter, have also curbed imports.

Meanwhile, demand for beef remains strong. Prices are high because consumers want to eat it, and they’re willing and able to pay for it, said Glynn Tonsor, who leads the Meat Demand Monitor at Kansas State University.

Tonsor said the ownership mix in the meat packing industry has not changed significantly in the past four years.

Concentration in the meat packing business has been a longtime concern for farmers and politicians on both sides of the aisle. Four major meatpacking companies dominate the beef market in the United States.

There’s no evidence to back up claims that the big packers have undue market power and use it to drive up beef prices, said Derrell Peel, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma State University.

“The packing industry in this country has been investigated and researched for 50 years, and it’s been an issue for over a hundred years, at least, for some producers,” Peel said, expressing skepticism that consumers or producers will benefit from the investigation Trump announced.

“If the outcome is to break up the big packers, the outcome will be higher beef prices for consumers, and lower cattle prices for producers,” Peel said.

Meat packers say they’re getting pinched by high prices

Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Friday that he and fellow Republican senators Cindy-Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Tim Sheehy of Montana visited the White House earlier in the day to speak with Trump about recent volatility in the beef market. Mullin said Trump agreed to have the U.S. Justice Department look at the issue.

Mullin blamed meat processors, saying that “we’re seeing the same exact game play again out” as a 2019 lawsuit against large meatpackers for violating antitrust laws.

JBS, which is based in Brazil, is the largest U.S. beef producer and its second-largest producer of poultry and pork. Half of its annual revenue comes from the U.S., where it has more than 72,000 employees.

The company has faced price-fixing charges before. In 2022, JBS agreed to a US$52.5 million settlement with grocery stores and wholesalers who accused JBS, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods and other companies of working together to suppress the number of cattle being slaughtered in order to drive up beef prices.

JBS did not admit wrongdoing as part of that settlement. Messages seeking comment were left Friday with JBS USA.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., last week called on the administration to renew an investigation into meat packers that was opened in Trump’s first term. Cramer’s office said he has pushed for such a probe since March 2020.

The Meat Institute, a trade group that represents JBS and other meat producers, said its industry is being pinched by the price of cattle, despite record prices for U.S. beef.

“For more than a year, beef packers have been operating at a loss due to a tight cattle supply and strong demand,” Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts said in a statement. “The beef industry is heavily regulated, and market transactions are transparent. The government’s own data from USDA confirms that the beef packing sector is experiencing catastrophic losses and experts predict this will continue into 2026.”

Trump’s accusations have renewed a bipartisan presidential fight against rising food prices.

Then-U.S. President Joe Biden talked with independent farmers and ranchers about initiatives to reduce food prices by increasing competition within the meat industry. And then-U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump defeated in winning reelection last year, used her campaign to vow to crack down on food producers and major supermarkets’ “price gouging.”

Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit.

Darlene Superville And Steve Karnowski, The Associated Press