WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is set to take a pair of executive actions on Friday, Sept. 4, in a push to address concerns of ranchers after his recent move to ease tariffs on imported beef ignited a backlash among his supporters in major cattle-producing states.
One of the two orders Trump is signing, according to a White House official, targets gray wolves, which eat cattle and have long plagued ranchers. The order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to determine whether gray wolves or Mexican wolves meet the criteria for delisting from protections under the Endangered Species Act ‒ and to remove them from the list if deemed appropriate.
Trump is also instructing Burgum to prepare legislative recommendations for delisting gray wolves
and Mexican wolves and to work with states to encourage delisting of the wolves at the state level.
In a second order, Trump is ordering steps to make it easier for ranchers to produce their own meat ‒ action that Trump teased last week in a social media post.
Under the 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act, ranchers can process their own meat for personal or household use, but all meat products sold in the United States must be processed at facilities that are subject to inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The order directs Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to create a "one-stop shop" and coordination position within the Department of Agriculture to expand federal licensing for inspections and connect meat producers with more inspection options.
The order further calls for additional resources and training for small meat processors, expanding the sale of meat products access across state lines, and increasing participation in a federal program that allows states to operate their own meat and poultry inspections.
Four companies currently control about 85% of U.S. meat processing: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Co.
In a Truth Social post last week previewing the action on meat processing, Trump vowed to "break this powerful monopoly." Two days earlier, conservative commentator Glenn Beck, who owns a ranch in Idaho, suggested to Trump that he target the Big Four meat processing companies in an interview for his podcast.
Trump will be joined in the Oval Office by ranchers from Texas, California, Ohio, Arizona, South Dakota and Texas at a Sept. 4 signing ceremony.
Angering ranchers, Trump in August signed an order to remove certain tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of ground beef imported into the United States for 90 days. The move is a bid to reduce the prices Americans are paying for the grocery staple ahead of the November midterm election.
Imported beef into the United States has increased dramatically ‒ up 122% in five years, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation ‒ as the supply of domestic cattle remains at multi-decade lows following years of drought, the spread of the parasitic New World screwworm near the Mexican border and other factors.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump aims to boost ranchers with new executive orders amid backlash
