President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to examine anti-competitive behavior, price-fixing and the effects of foreign ownership on the food supply chain and its impact on Americans.

In a new Executive Order issued on Saturday, Trump laid out the importance of ensuring lower food costs for Americans. "An affordable and secure food supply is vital to America's national and economic security. However, anti-competitive behavior, especially when carried out by foreign-controlled corporations, threatens the stability and affordability of America's food supply," the new Executive Order stated.

In recent weeks, Trump has bristled over constant questions about affordability and complaints about the impacts of his tariffs on consumers. In a Cabinet meeting last week, Trump called the affordability issue a "Democratic con job."

Under the order, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will each establish a "Food Supply Chain Security Task Force" to investigate food-related industries to determine whether anti-competitive practices exist in the food supply chains as well as whether control of food industries by foreign companies is increasing the costs of food "or creating a national or economic security threat to Americans."

DOJ and FTC will look to see whether there is evidence of criminal collusion, as well as consider possible new regulations for the food industry.

The new Executive Order is somewhat of a reversal for Trump. In August, Trump signed an order ending Executive Order 14036 from the Biden administration that had ordered agencies to look at the effects of corporate consolidation on industries, including agriculture and food. That order also directed agencies to examine the "rising power of foreign monopolies and cartels" on specific industries."

The order points to price-fixing court cases that major meatpackers and other companies have settled in federal court as one reason for the order.

"In recent years certain companies in the American food supply chain have even settled civil suits accusing them of price fixing for tens of millions of dollars. Food supply sectors including meat processing, seed, fertilizer, and equipment have similar vulnerabilities to price fixing and other anti-competitive practices."

Despite mentioning seed, fertilizer and equipment, the order doesn't mention any role for the Department of Agriculture in the new task forces to look at the effects such practices may have on farmers.

The order stated that the Trump administration will look into "whether anti-competitive behavior, especially by foreign-controlled companies, increases the cost of living for Americans and address any associated national security threat to food supply chains."

DOJ and FTC will report their findings to Congress within 180 days and follow up within a year as well to recommend possible actions by Congress to deal with food-industry competition. However, the briefings will not include any information related to "investigations, prosecution, regulatory actions or litigation or any non-public information regarding any food industry investigated pursuant to this order."

That again leaves a significant gap in the public's understanding of what these DOJ/FTC task forces find. The Justice Department, for instance, started an investigation into meatpackers under the first Trump administration due to increasing price spreads between live cattle prices and boxed beef following a Tyson plant fire in 2019 and the early days of the pandemic when packing plants were idled or slowed production because of worker illnesses and safety requirements to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite repeated calls from groups demanding a report on DOJ's findings, no specific information or reports have been produced.

The FTC under the Biden administration specifically pressed investigations into the food industry and challenged mergers in food and grocery industries. In the first months of the Trump administration, the Democratic FTC members were fired and the commission closed cases against Pepsico and approved the acquisition of food company Kellanova by Mars.

The president has blamed the pricing problems on the Biden administration, which saw soaring inflation as the economy came out of the pandemic.

In a fact sheet for the new order, the White House stated, "President Trump is fighting every day to reverse Biden's inflation crisis and bring down sky-high grocery prices -- and he will not rest until every American feels the relief at the checkout line."

In areas outside of food, the Trump administration has rolled back regulations as a way for industry to reduce costs to consumers. This past week, Trump held an event at the White House to cut auto mileage standards that the Biden administration developed to reduce emissions and promote electric vehicles.

In the food area, Trump found himself being criticized by cattle producers for complaining about beef prices and pushing for more beef imports from countries such as Argentina.

On Nov. 7, Trump used social media to call for DOJ to immediately begin a new investigation into beef meatpackers. Trump said the investigation should focus attention on foreign-owned packers.

Trump posted, "I have asked who are driving up the price of Beef through illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation. We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what I being done by Majority Foreign Owned packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation's food supply. Action must be taken immediately to protect Consumers, combat illegal Monopolies, and ensure these Corporations are not criminally profiting at the expense of the American People. I am asking the DOJ to act expeditiously. Thank you for your attention to this matter."

See White House fact sheet: https://www.whitehouse.gov/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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