The President of the United States, Donald Trump, communicated this Friday that he plans to enable a legal framework for the country's ranchers to take care of the processing of the meat from their own animals directly, after denouncing the "monopoly" created by the "big four" national food processors.
In messages spread on social media, the president defended that ranchers are people who "work very hard, smart, efficient, and immaculately clean" and that for years they have faced a "tremendous problem" due to the "dirty monopoly" that, he has pointed out, is exercised by the main meat processing companies in the United States: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing Co, which together control about 85% of the market.
Last year, the Department of Justice already advanced its intention to analyze whether these companies were coordinating to raise the prices of the meat that the final consumer pays.
According to Trump, the "big four" represent a "not very competitive number" of companies that "are making life miserable" for the ranchers in the country. Therefore, and "to break this powerful monopoly," the U.S. president has made public his intention to "authorize the necessary legal documents" that allow producers to have the right to "process their own food."
Trump has not yet detailed a specific timeline for the implementation of these changes, although he has expressed his desire for the process to be completed "quickly."