Food Fight: Trump Administration Targets Food Supply Chain for Antitrust Scrutiny

Faced with rising food prices¹ and struggling farmers,² the Trump administration announced a new initiative to bolster antitrust scrutiny of the agricultural industry.

On December 6, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order instructing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create task forces to investigate the U.S. food supply chain for potential anticompetitive conduct, in particular by foreign-controlled companies.³ The executive order highlights the “meat processing, seed, fertilizer, and equipment” sectors as areas especially vulnerable to anticompetitive conduct. It also instructs the U.S. antitrust agencies to investigate and bring enforcement actions, including criminal proceedings as appropriate, to remedy any anticompetitive conduct they uncover.⁴

The executive order also directs the agencies to brief Congress on the progress of their work implementing the order in six months and in one year. However, these Congressional briefings must exclude any information related to ongoing investigations or enforcement actions or any non-public information regarding any industry investigated pursuant to the order, so it is unlikely any meaningful information will be provided in the briefings.⁵

The executive order is part of a recent flurry of activity by the Trump administration to help farmers squeezed by lower sales and high input costs. In September 2025, DOJ and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) signed a memorandum of understanding intended to strengthen their (already significant) cooperation to protect competition in agricultural input markets, including feed, fertilizer, fuel, seed, equipment, and pesticides.⁶ And on December 8, 2025, two days after issuing the recent executive order, President Trump and the USDA announced a $12 billion farm aid package to help farmers impacted by “temporary trade market disruptions” and higher production costs.⁷ President Trump also put pressure on farm equipment makers to lower equipment prices.⁸

Background on Antitrust Enforcement Related to the Food Supply Chain

The U.S. antitrust agencies have a long history of investigating anticompetitive behavior related to food and agriculture, bringing suits in a wide range of industries, from tuna⁹ to dairy¹⁰ to pesticides¹¹ and beyond. In the past, Congress has also called on these agencies to investigate industries — notably, the oil and gas industry — when shocks have affected consumers’ wallets.¹²

In the last several years, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the U.S. antitrust agencies have sharpened their focus on anticompetitive behavior in the agriculture space, especially price fixing and improper sharing of competitively sensitive information. In February 2021, DOJ secured a guilty plea from Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the largest chicken producers in the U.S., for price fixing broiler chicken products; Pilgrim’s Pride was sentenced to pay a $107 million fine.¹³ In September 2023, DOJ filed suit against Agri Stats, a data aggregator and analytics provider, that allegedly facilitated illegal exchanges of competitively sensitive information between major U.S. chicken, pork, and turkey processors. That case is ongoing.

The U.S. antitrust agencies’ scrutiny of the agricultural industry also includes a focus on labor markets. In July 2022, DOJ filed suit against three poultry processors, a compensation consulting firm, and the consulting firm’s president alleging that they illegally shared detailed, disaggregated current and future compensation and benefit information.¹⁴ The poultry processors settled DOJ’s charges, agreeing to collectively pay $85 million in restitution for poultry plant workers allegedly harmed by the information exchange.¹⁵

Finally, in the waning days of the Biden administration, over a dissent from the Republican Commissioners,¹⁶ the FTC sued Deere & Company over its use of allegedly unfair practices to drive up equipment repair costs for farmers and limit farmers’ ability to repair tractors and other farming equipment.¹⁷

Consistent with this trend, the Trump administration has ramped up its focus on agriculture-related antitrust issues in recent months. In early 2025, after the outbreak of bird flu, DOJ reportedly opened a civil investigation into price fixing among egg producers.¹⁸ On November 7, 2025, President Trump directed DOJ to launch an investigation into the largest U.S. meatpacking companies for potential price fixing and collusion.¹⁹ And on November 19, 2025, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Abigail Slater dedicated an entire speech to the DOJ’s focus on antitrust enforcement in agriculture, labeling it a “top priority.”²⁰ In her remarks, AAG Slater also referenced the president’s Truth Social post directing DOJ to “investigate the beef packing industry,” indicating that under Trump II, DOJ will be highly responsive to the White House’s executive orders. Whether enforcement actions result from these investigations remains to be seen, but the investigations themselves can be disruptive to businesses and trigger significant consequences, including costly class-action suits.²¹

Takeaways From Recent Trump Administration Actions

The U.S. antitrust agencies have long focused on protecting competition in agricultural markets, but the White House’s involvement in directing investigations at particular industries is unprecedented. Given their closer coordination with the White House under Trump II, DOJ and the FTC may feel pressure to open or revitalize dormant investigations in response to the recent executive order. Companies in food-related industries facing antitrust scrutiny should be proactive in managing antitrust risk. As always, robust internal antitrust compliance policies can prevent violations or uncover issues before investigators come knocking. Until food price inflation moderates and the pressure on farmers relents, we expect the Trump administration to continue using antitrust and any other tool at its disposal to try to rein in rising costs in the food supply chain.

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2025 All Rights Reserved. This Advisory is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.