Executive Order Targets Meatpacking Industry Practices

The White House has directed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate whether the meatpacking industry has engaged in anticompetitive collusion. In a social media post, President Donald Trump accused beef companies of "artificially inflating prices" for consumers while "driving down" cattle prices paid to ranchers, accusing "meat packing cartels" of exploiting their market dominance at the expense of American farmers and consumers. The announcement's fiery language might be red meat for consumers, but recent history tells us that the industry's market dominance is an ox that is not easily gored.

The new investigation comes amid soaring beef prices and persistently squeezed cattle producers, a situation that has reignited scrutiny from both political parties. For example, in late 2025, senators from cattle-heavy states urged action, echoing complaints that while wholesale beef prices climbed, cattle prices paid by packers had fallen—a "fishy" disparity, as Trump put it. But this dynamic is not entirely new. In 2020, boxed beef prices rose 20% even as cattle prices dropped 11%, widening packer profit margins and prompting cries of foul play from cattle producers and state attorneys general from cattle-producing states. Then, like now, Trump directed DOJ to investigate, and DOJ's Antitrust Division quietly opened a probe. That initial investigation, however, yielded no public enforcement action. DOJ reportedly closed that inquiry just weeks before Trump's new demand for a fresh probe.

Meatpackers are already facing scrutiny from private litigants. In 2019, plaintiffs at different rungs of the supply chain—cattle ranchers, large institutional meat buyers, and consumers—filed class actions alleging violations of the Sherman Act, the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), and various state-law consumer protection statutes. The fate of these cases, consolidated in In re Cattle Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 22-3031 (D. Minn.), remains largely uncertain. Although some defendants have settled, the publicly available information suggests that they did so on favorable terms, considering the potential exposure, and without admitting to any wrongdoing. This is not entirely surprising given how difficult it is to distinguish illegal price fixing and market manipulation from legitimate business practices in the notoriously opaque and complex world of cattle markets.

If DOJ finds evidence of a cartel and brings a successful action, it would vindicate the complaints of ranchers and consumers and possibly signal a more aggressive era of enforcement in agriculture. Alternatively, if the investigation again ends with no action—and market conditions do not improve for consumers and producers—lawmakers and regulators may conclude that existing antitrust tools are insufficient and accede to longstanding calls to intervene directly. Either way, the mere fact of this investigation—coming from a presidential directive and focusing on high-profile targets—underscores that concerns about competition in the meatpacking industry remain very much alive, despite legal headwinds.

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