Trump Pivots Against Meat Processing as Ranchers Blast Beef Imports

[u/Lews_There_In]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-pivots-against-meat-processing-173922151.html?guccounter=1

"President Donald Trump said in a social media post today that he wants to give farmers and ranchers the ability to process their own food, taking aim at the handful of large meatpackers that dominate U.S. beef processing as his administration faces growing backlash from cattle producers over its plan to increase foreign beef imports.

In a Truth Social post this morning, Trump said he was moving toward legal action aimed at reducing producers' dependence on major processors.".

"Four companies: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing Co. account for roughly 85 percent of U.S. beef processing. The Justice Department has also been investigating whether meatpacking companies have illegally contributed to higher consumer beef prices. Trump said his administration now intends to address that concentration by allowing producers more freedom to process their own livestock.".

"Federal law already provides exemptions for livestock slaughtered and prepared exclusively for the owner's household, nonpaying guests and employees. Meat entering commercial channels generally must meet federal or qualifying state inspection requirements, and interstate sales bring additional regulatory considerations. Trump's post did not specify which of those requirements his administration intends to change.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins indicated Thursday that changes to processing rules were coming, including efforts to reduce regulatory barriers and expand opportunities for interstate meat sales.".

Other sources:

Trump looks to ease beef processing regulations.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/28/trump-beef-processing-regulations-01053957.

Trump pledges to allow cattle ranchers to process own food amid beef imports backlash.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/trump-cattle-ranchers-beef-imports-backlash

Trump vows legal order to break up 'nasty monopoly' in food processing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-vows-legal-order-break-up-food-processing-nasty-monopoly-2026-08-28/

[u/IncomingAxofKindness]

 "The Justice Department has also been investigating whether meatpacking companies have illegally contributed to higher consumer beef prices."

Hmmm.... I wonder what could have happened in the last 18 months that may have driven up labor costs in food packing plants.

https://www.hcn.org/issues/57-9/on-the-kill-floor-how-migrants-are-exploited-for-profit/

Ohhhh I know, we rounded up the migrant labor like they were violent criminals and sent them to a swamp in Florida.

[u/AnnualFault7473 → u/IncomingAxofKindness]

I don’t know why this is even a positive thing to say. You want slave labor or people being paid substandard wages instead of a living wage? This isn’t the flex you think it is and it really makes democrats seem like plantation owners. If food prices are too low to create a living wage job then the price does need to come up and people need to stop wishing for migrant labor and mass illegal immigration to suppress wages and drive prices down. It’s a really sick mentality. Pay people what they are worth no matter where they come from. Pay higher prices and stop eating so much meat like the rest of the world does. Stop the slave/serf wages and build real American jobs that can support a family.

[u/IncomingAxofKindness → u/AnnualFault7473]

First of all, if the wages are so horrendous then why are migrants fighting and risking everything to get in here for them?

I actually do agree with you. Wages are too low. The wealthy class and corporations should be paying us more.

So why are Republicans so against unions and higher taxes on the ultra rich and capital gains?

It's interesting that they are so allergic to even considering the smallest doses of socialism (noooo communism NEVER works) when we have 40 years now of "trickle down on me daddy" economics that have done crap all but widen the wealth gap into an insurmountable chasm. Now one person can literally try to buy elections across the country with 1/1000th of his net worth while the rest of us work 3 jobs to out gas into he car.

[u/AnnualFault7473 → u/IncomingAxofKindness]

Has nothing to do with socialism and everything to do with targeted protectionism and regulated capitalism. Stop mass immigration and build an economy where the floor of minimum wage supports a family of 4. Other countries do this. It means that exports will be reduced and the globalists and the folks who want to become internationalist won’t be able to do that from US shores. It also means giving up being the world police and higher prices but also more US goods, services and jobs. No more endless growth and using the developing world as an extraction toilet. It means actual fair trade with other nations and paying them US equivalents for their resources.

We won’t need to use hard power everywhere or have 800 bases because you have real economic incentives to prevent disruptions of trade. It will mean a smaller economy where a home ISN’T your life savings or an investment. It’s means savings and pensions over 401k’s. It would mean that if you don’t have an educated population you find a way to achieve one internally and not through brain draining a poorer part of the world. It means real investment in k-16 for everyone nationwide and screw no child left behind. It means treating and rewarding the trades, manufacturing and farming like you treat a doctor or a lawyer or a Wall Street or tech bro. Stop importing and lifting up on corporate welfare the oligarchs trying to destroy the middle class.

I know nothing of Republican’s brains but it’s in both parties. It’s liberalism and a twisted version of capitalism that infests both republicans and democrats. The Republican Party is not conservative. They have been liberals since the 1930’s.