Seeking to curb “price-fixing, anti-competitive behavior and foreign influence that drives up grocery prices and threatens the security of America’s food supply,” President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to establish Food Supply Chain Security Task Forces within the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
Both task forces will be empowered to bring enforcement actions and propose new rules to stop anti-competitive behavior, and the Attorney General has been directed to pursue criminal proceedings, including grand jury investigations, if evidence of criminal collusion is uncovered.
According to a White House fact sheet, the task forces are needed in part because “major players in America’s food supply chain have paid tens of millions to settle price-fixing lawsuits” in sectors that may be “vulnerable to anti-competitive manipulation that result in high prices for farmers and consumers,” including meat processing, seed, fertilizer and farm equipment. The fact sheet specifically identifies “foreign-controlled companies in key segments, potentially creating national security risks and driving up the cost of food for American families, issues the Task Forces are specifically directed to investigate.”
The task forces appear to be an effort by the Administration to take some kind of action to lower grocery prices, a key Trump campaign promise that has so far failed to materialize. The wording continues to blame the “Biden inflation crisis” despite the fact that the Trump administration has been in power for over 10 months.
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