President Trump signed two executive orders Friday that open the door to delisting gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act and give ranchers the right to process and sell their own meat -- a direct answer to the backlash over his August beef tariff move.
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Friday that take direct aim at the two biggest frustrations in cattle country: gray wolf predation and a meatpacking market dominated by a handful of corporate giants. The orders open the door to removing gray wolves from the endangered species list and give ranchers a path to process and sell their own beef, bypassing the processors that control roughly 85 percent of the U.S. market.
Trump signed the orders in the Oval Office with ranchers from across the country, some in cowboy hats, standing behind him. The White House framed the package as the largest regulatory push for American ranchers in modern history, and it lands as a direct answer to the backlash Trump drew from cattle states over his August move to ease tariffs on imported ground beef.
The executive orders follow weeks of tension between the White House and ranchers. In August, Trump suspended tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef for 90 days in a push to lower grocery prices heading into the November midterms. The move infuriated producers in major cattle states who watched imports climb 122 percent over five years while the U.S. herd sits at its smallest size since the 1950s.
Friday's orders make clear the administration heard that frustration. "People have been asking for this change for decades, and we're getting it done," Trump said. "This is the largest-ever government effort to change all federal rules and regulations necessary to support our ranchers."
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called the moment a turning point, noting the administration has spent the past 19 months working to rebuild what it calls the Great American Cattle Herd. USDA also announced follow-up actions this week under its Ranchers First Initiative, including enrolling nearly 1 million new acres in grassland conservation programs and expanding federal grading programs that reduce costs for small processors.
The first order targets the four companies that dominate American meat processing: Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA and National Beef Packing. Together they control about 85 percent of the market, a concentration that has left ranchers with few options when it is time to sell. Under a 120-year-old federal law, the 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act, ranchers could process meat for their own tables but could not sell it commercially without going through USDA-inspected facilities.
Trump's order directs USDA to change that. It calls for a one-stop shop inside the department to help small producers obtain inspection licenses, expands federal programs that allow state-inspected meat to cross state lines, and orders a modernization of meat inspection rules to cut red tape. It also directs the department to prioritize enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and coordinate with the Justice Department on anticompetitive practices.
"For the first time ever, we're going to give farmers and ranchers the right to process their own food," Trump said. "That's a big announcement." He predicted the meatpacking giants would push back, joking that he did not know who they were, "but they're going to be coming at me at different angles."
The push follows a suggestion from conservative commentator Glenn Beck during a podcast interview last week, and it gives small regional processors a genuine path to grow. USDA says the changes will expand market access while keeping the nation's food safety standards intact.
The second order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to determine whether gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves meet the criteria for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act, and to begin that process. It also instructs Burgum to prepare legislative recommendations and work with states that want to manage wolf populations at the state level.
For ranchers in the Northern Rockies and the upper Midwest, the stakes are practical. Wolves that once nearly vanished from the lower 48 have rebounded into the thousands over the past two decades, and packs routinely pull down calves and cows on open range. Under current protections, producers have limited options to stop the losses.
"Because they're on the endangered species list, they can't shoot them," Rollins said. "They have to sit and watch them destroy their herd." The orders also direct the Interior and Agriculture departments to update standards for compensating ranchers for predator losses and to ease authorization for lethal removal when necessary.
Animal welfare groups criticized the move. Humane World Action Fund president Sara Amundson called the push "a cynical and performative gesture," pointing to USDA data showing wild carnivores account for roughly 1 percent of cattle and sheep losses. Ranchers counter that even a small percentage is devastating when concentrated on individual operations, and that compensation programs have long failed to cover real losses.
Both orders begin lengthy administrative processes rather than taking effect overnight. The delisting push will require a formal rulemaking from the Interior Department, which is all but certain to draw lawsuits from environmental groups. The meat processing changes will unfold through new USDA regulations, expanded licensing and beefed-up enforcement over the coming year.
For Trump, the political timing is clear. With the midterms less than two months away and beef prices still a kitchen-table issue, Friday's signing lets the White House point to concrete action for rural voters who felt burned by the August tariff decision. For ranchers, the question now is whether Washington can move faster than the wolves -- or the lawyers.
President Trump signed two executive orders Friday that open the door to delisting gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act and give ranchers the right to process and sell their own meat -- a direct answer to the backlash over his August beef tariff move.
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