In response to reports that President Donald J. Trump is expected to sign executive orders temporarily reducing tariffs on beef imports and advancing policies to grow the domestic cattle herd, Farm Action issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Farm Action’s Research and Policy Director, Sarah Carden:
“The administration appears to be presenting this move as a way to lower beef prices for consumers while supporting domestic cattle ranchers, but we’ve already seen this approach fail. Previous import expansions from Argentina did not meaningfully reduce beef prices because the real problem is a highly consolidated meatpacking sector controlled by just a handful of dominant corporations.
The company most likely to benefit from expanded imports is JBS, the Brazil-based meatpacking giant owned by billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. In 2017, investigations revealed that the Batistas spent years bribing Brazilian politicians to secure government-backed loans and favors that helped finance JBS’ expansion into U.S. meatpacking.
Reports that Joesley Batista helped broker recent U.S.-Brazil trade discussions raise serious questions about whether this policy is meant to lower grocery bills or reward one of the most corrupt corporations in the global food system.
Expanding imports into a rigged and consolidated market will not lower prices for consumers or create a fairer market for ranchers. What it will do is strengthen multinational meatpackers like JBS while putting renewed pressure on independent U.S. cattle ranchers, who are finally beginning to recover after years of being in a deficit.”
Four major meatpackers control roughly 85% of the U.S. beef industry. Farm Action has long argued that this level of concentration enables dominant corporations to suppress prices paid to ranchers while keeping consumer prices high.
Farm Action has called for reinstating Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL) for beef and pork, restoring competitive markets by enforcing antitrust laws, and rebuilding the domestic cow herd to achieve national self-reliance in beef production.
Media Contact: Emma Nicolas, [email protected], 202-450-0094
