President Donald Trump announced another major policy shakeup for American cattle ranchers Friday, just one week after his controversial import plan roiled the U.S. beef industry.
Trump said his administration would move swiftly to allow ranchers to “PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD” in a Truth Social post, but he offered few details about specific changes to federal policy he plans to make.
Trump said the policy targets an increasingly concentrated meatpacking industry — four companies control roughly 85% of the U.S. beef processing market. Current federal law only lets small slaughterhouses process meat for the personal use of the animal’s owner; Trump’s proposed policy may allow those smaller processors to sell their meat for public consumption, circumventing the “Big Four” meatpackers.
The American beef industry is still reeling from Trump’s announcement last week that U.S. would import up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef “with no out-of-quota tariff” over the next 90 days, which would be sold for 25% below market prices.
Trump’s move is aimed at tackling rising food prices, a central concern for Americans ahead of the November midterms.
The proposed policy was met with a rare rebuke from several GOP lawmakers, including Nebraska Sen. Debbie Fischer, who said she was “extremely disappointed” with the White House’s decision, and Rep. Mike Flood, also of Nebraska, who said Trump’s plan “undercuts American farmers.”
“We all want lower grocery prices, but as I’ve said for months, we cannot do it at the expense of American producers,” Fischer wrote in a post on X.
Trump signed the proclamation Wednesday despite the backlash, the same day he appeared on conservative political commentator Glenn Beck’s eponymous radio show. During the conversation, Beck appeared to inspire Trump’s new meat processing plan.
“Please, when it comes to beef, please look at the cartel that is the meat processing cartel,” Beck, who owns a ranch in Idaho, told the president. “Help us. We can’t butcher with all of the federal regulations, it is really hard. You know, if there’s something you can do to help.
Trump appeared receptive to the idea, asking Beck if it was just a question of regulation, which Beck told him it was.
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“So you’re saying, with less regulation, you think that the ranchers and farmers would do a very good job of processing the beef?” Trump asked the host.
Beck said they would, and Trump told him he would “look at that today.” Just two days later, it appears Trump took the radio host’s suggestions seriously.
The White House did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s inquiries on the origin of Trump’s proposed policy or when it would go into effect. In a post on X, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins suggested that regulations could be cut as soon as Monday, adding that ranchers’ ability to sell over state lines would be expanded.
The president isn’t the first to suggest such deregulation. Rep. Thomas Massie, the renegade Kentucky Republican who has sparred with the president on agricultural policy in the past, has pushed for similar policy changes in Congress.
Massie has spent years pushing for the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act, which would allow small processors and slaughterhouses to sell uninspected or locally inspected meat directly to consumers within the same state. It’s currently included in the House’s version of the farm bill, which passed the chamber earlier this year.
The PRIME Act, which Massie introduced alongside Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, had bipartisan support in the House but faced pushback from rancher advocacy organizations like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The group said Massie’s intended deregulation would come “at the expense of food safety,” in a 2023 statement.
The NCBA has not commented yet on Trump’s new proposal, but food safety is top of mind for many voters. This summer saw a cyclospora outbreak sicken more than 11,000 Americans, and earlier this month almost 30,000 pounds of imported Argentinian beef products were recalled by the Department of Agriculture.
Adam Hudacek is an MS NOW desk associate in Washington, D.C. He covers agricultural policy, political culture and breaking news.
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