As Americans feel the sting of record-high beef prices at the grocery store, the Trump administration is taking direct aim at one of the most entrenched power structures in the U.S. food economy: the meatpacking giants. On Friday, President Trump called on the Department of Justice to investigate the nation’s largest beef processors for alleged price manipulation, collusion, and anti-competitive practices—the kinds of behavior that critics say have quietly warped the cattle industry for decades.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump didn’t mince words. “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 wrote.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that a federal probe is already underway, spearheaded by Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater—an economic policy veteran now leading the DOJ’s antitrust division—and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The Justice Department has sweeping civil and criminal authority in antitrust matters, and that means subpoenas, document seizures, and testimony are all on the table.
So what’s behind the beef bubble?
This isn’t just about economic cycles or inflation. America’s cattle herd is the smallest it’s been in 75 years. Years of drought scorched pasturelands and pushed feed prices sky-high, forcing ranchers to downsize herds at scale. But despite the shrinking supply, demand hasn’t dipped—leaving retailers and consumers caught in a price vise.
But the eye of the storm lies in industry concentration. Just four firms—Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing—control about 80% of U.S. grain-fed beef processing. Ranchers have long said they’re price takers, not price setters. Bill Bullard of R-CALF USA called the industry “well beyond the level that’s normally considered a harm to the economy.”
And that harm is showing up in lawsuits. Tyson, JBS, and Cargill have all paid settlements—some in the tens of millions—in civil litigation alleging they conspired to limit cattle slaughter and inflate beef prices. They deny wrongdoing, but the evidence trail has been enough to raise bipartisan alarms.
Even under the Biden administration, the meatpackers were under scrutiny. But Trump’s DOJ appears to be pursuing the matter with more teeth—and a broader message: you can’t squeeze American families and ranchers without facing consequences.
Yet the story isn’t without tension. Trump recently angered many ranchers by suggesting cattle prices should come down—and even floated the idea of increasing low-tariff Argentine beef imports, an idea that drew sharp pushback. Economists were quick to note that such imports wouldn’t meaningfully reduce retail prices and could worsen the squeeze on domestic producers.
At the same time, Trump implemented a 50% tariff on Brazilian beef imports—a major source of blended meat for hamburger processing—which has helped tighten U.S. supply further.
At the intersection of a shrinking herd, corporate concentration, and a political tug-of-war between cheap meat and domestic industry health. For families watching the price of steak creep past $12 per pound, and for ranchers wondering why their cut never seems to match the markup, the answers may finally be coming.
This probe may not fix the drought or rebuild the herd overnight. But it could force an overdue reckoning inside an industry that’s long operated in the shadows of public awareness—and well beyond the reach of real competition.
