U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, has a beef with meatpacking corporations. The Eighth District congressman said that he supports the Trump Administration’s investigation into the “Big 4” meatpackers for alleged price fixing – those “Big 4” being Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef.
“Two of the big four are Brazilian companies. They’re not even American companies,” Smith told Missourinet. “And so, when you see, when you see the live cattle prices go down, but you see the box meat prices go up, who benefits? It is the meat packer.”
Marfrig Global Foods, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, holds a majority stake in National Beef. JBS is also headquartered in Sao Paulo.
Smith also said low inventories due to years of drought are impacting beef prices in Missouri and elsewhere.
“The cattle industry has faced droughts all over the country for several years in a row, and that led to a lot of producers selling their breeding stocks,” he said. “So it made the numbers be the lowest level that it’s been in decades.”
One example of how high beef prices are right now: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in January 2026, one pound of ground beef on average cost $6.75, compared to $5.54 in January 2025.
Tariffs
Congressman Smith also told Missourinet that he’s “all in” with the Trump Administration’s tariff policy. He said tariff revenue and American exports are up, while the trade deficit is down.
“These are big wins for Missourians who export their products (and) depend on those those markets,” Smith said. “Because of the president’s tariffs and trade policy, you have seen the revenues that will come in and it will cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years.”
The White House is now using other sections of U.S. code to continue enforcing tariffs after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, stating that President Trump overstepped his authority using a specific trade act to impose the tariffs.
Opponents of Trump’s tariff policies, including U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. 5th District, claim the power to levy tariffs rests with the legislative branch.
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