What does Trump’s executive order on meat processing do?
( NewsNation ) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at making it easier for farmers and ranchers to process meat and sell it across state lines.
"We're creating a program where small and medium-sized, and large ranchers, can sell their products directly to consumers so that they don't have to go through the big four processors," Trump said.
The four largest beef packers account for 85% of all U.S. steer and heifer purchases, and Trump presented the order as a challenge to what he described as a "monopoly."
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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the order directs USDA to prioritize investigations into practices that "restrict competition or manipulate prices" and increase resources for those investigations.
It also directs Rollins to "expand opportunities" for shipping meat across state lines by making it easier for states to participate in inspection programs. The order calls on Rollins to create training programs for smaller processors and "modernize meat inspections" to cut red tape.
Farmers and ranchers can already slaughter and process their own animals for personal use, but selling that meat to the public generally requires government inspection.
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Trump's order doesn't undo that requirement. Instead, it gives Rollins 60 days to submit a report identifying federal laws that "restrict or prohibit" meat processed for personal use from being shipped between states.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has pushed for legislation that would loosen meat processing restrictions, criticized the order on Friday.
"There's nothing new here that lets farmers process and sell their own meat," Massie wrote on X .
Separately, the order directs USDA to set up a guaranteed loan program to help small and regional beef processors stay open and expand.
Trump's directive comes after he drew criticism from American ranchers for allowing up to 300,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings to enter the U.S. at lower tariff rates.
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