By Ryan Hanrahan
Politico’s Aaron Pellish, Meredith Lee Hill and Marcia Brown reported that “President Donald Trump said (last) Friday that he asked the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into meatpacking companies, which he accused of illegally manipulating beef prices at the expense of beef farmers and consumers. The announcement comes amid pressure over the high cost of beef — and a bubbling feud with farm-state Republicans over plans to import beef from Argentina — and shortly after a White House meeting with a handful of senators from beef-producing states.”
“‘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,’ Trump wrote on social media on Friday,” according to Pellish, Lee Hill and Brown’s reporting. “‘We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation’s food supply.'”
“Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post the investigation into the meatpacking companies is already underway, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture,” Pellish, Lee Hill and Brown reported. “Neither Bondi nor Trump specified which companies were being targeted, but many of the largest companies in the industry are based abroad.”
Source : illinois.edu