Commissioner Miller Praises President Trump and Attorney General Paxton for Launch of Investigation into Meatpacking Industry

“Price fixing, market manipulation, and foreign-controlled dominance over American beef is coming to an end”

AUSTIN – Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller today praised Attorney General Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice for launching a sweeping antitrust investigation into the nation’s largest meatpackers over allegations of market manipulation and anticompetitive practices that may have harmed Texas cattle ranchers and American consumers. Commissioner Miller said the investigation is a tremendous step toward restoring fairness, competition, and transparency in the American beef industry after years of consolidation and foreign-controlled influence over the nation’s food supply.

The following statement may be attributed to Commissioner Sid Miller:

“Attorney General Ken Paxton and President Trump’s Department of Justice are finally taking the fight straight to the meatpacking cartel that has been bleeding Texas ranchers dry while hammering families with sky high beef prices. When four companies control more than 85 percent of the beef processing market, that’s not a free market, that’s a stranglehold on America’s food supply.

What makes it even worse is that two of the ‘Big Four’ meatpackers, two are tied to foreign ownership. Texas ranchers should not be forced to compete against a system where foreign-controlled corporations have enormous power over American cattle prices and our national food supply.

For years, these massive companies have been accused of squeezing producers by driving up prices for processing, and sticking consumers with higher grocery bills. President Trump and Attorney General Paxton are sending a clear message that the days of price fixing, market manipulation, and foreign-controlled dominance over American beef is coming to an end.

Texas cattle ranchers are the best in the world, and they deserve a fair market, fair prices, and an America First beef industry that puts our producers and consumers ahead of foreign corporations.”

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