Washington, D.C. — Following news (first reported by The Capitol Forum) that the US Department of Agriculture has ended a Biden-era partnership with the attorneys general of 31 states and the District of Columbia to address antitrust violations in the grocery and meat processing industries, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“As Americans continue to struggle to afford groceries, the Trump Administration has chosen to dish out its latest corporate pardon to the Big Ag monopolists who bear much of the blame,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The food supply chain is massively consolidated throughout—from seed and fertilizer down to meat processing—and recent years have seen numerous allegations of anticompetitive behavior raising prices for consumers. The USDA partnership brought state AGs into this fight against cartels, price fixing, and monopolization. By ending it, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins has made clear she does not care about delivering price relief for consumers.”

The USDA-State AG partnership was launched in 2023 to enhance the capacity of state enforcers to investigate competition and consumer issues in the food supply chain. Part of the Biden Administration’s all-of-government approach to competition policy, it followed a major antitrust lawsuit from Jonathan Kanter’s Department of Justice to crack down on price-fixing among large pork, turkey, and chicken processors. Recent private plaintiff lawsuits have also alleged price fixing and market manipulation in meat processing and fertilizer industries, while researchers linked this year’s spike in egg prices to consolidation among egg producers.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.