Washington, February 20— Foreign players linked to China are tightening their grip on America's food supply and influencing grocery prices, a top Democratic senator said, warning that increasing consolidation in agriculture and food markets is squeezing consumers and farmers while posing risks to national security.
In a letter to senior Trump administration officials, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged immediate enforcement action against what he described as anti-competitive practices and growing foreign control across key segments of the US agricultural supply chain.
"The price of groceries has skyrocketed due to Trump's tariffs and erratic economic policies – and now, costs threaten to rise even further as the administration ignores how foreign-owned corporations have manipulated markets, raising food prices for consumers and harming American farmers and ranchers who are already struggling from Trump's trade war," Schumer said.
"The result is that consumers pay more for less, farmers and ranchers' profit margins shrink, and our food supply is at risk when foreign corporations monopolize more and more of America's agriculture and food sector," he added.
Schumer wrote to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, and Attorney General Barr, arguing that "a small number of foreign-owned corporations" now dominate major segments of the sector, from agricultural inputs to meatpacking and food processing.
"This is not just an economic problem. When foreign adversaries hold significant power over what Americans eat and what American farmers need to grow, food security becomes a national security vulnerability," he said.
Pointing to consolidation in the meat industry, Schumer noted: "Just four firms control roughly 85 percent of U.S. beef processing, and two of them, JBS and National Beef, are subsidiaries of Brazilian conglomerates."
He added that JBS "has paid over $200 million in settlements across multiple federal price-fixing lawsuits involving beef and pork, while consumers have watched ground beef prices climb more than 13 percent in a single year."
Beyond beef, he cited Smithfield Foods, owned by China's WH Group, saying it "holds a dominant position in U.S. pork processing and in January announced a $450 million acquisition of Nathan's Famous, one of America's most iconic food brands."
"When a company controlled by a Chinese parent corporation is buying up beloved American brands while families struggle to afford groceries, something is fundamentally wrong," Schumer wrote.
The problem, he argued, extends to agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and chemicals. Referring to Syngenta Group, owned by ChemChina, Schumer said: "A company that ultimately answers to the Chinese Communist Party sits at the center of supply chains that American farmers depend on, which is a strategic vulnerability that would be exposed in any serious disruption to the US-China relationship."
He also pointed to increased Russian fertilizer exports to the United States amid the war in Ukraine, warning that dependence on adversaries for key inputs weakens domestic resilience.
Schumer criticised the administration's enforcement record, saying that despite directives and executive orders, "not a single enforcement action has been taken. No company has been charged. No acquisition has been blocked."
"Empty promises won't feed families and help pay their bills or keep farmers and ranchers from bankruptcy," Schumer said as he called for enforcement actions under the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, and the Packers and Stockyards Act.
The Senator also called for a review of foreign acquisitions through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and stronger oversight of market concentration.
"American families need relief at the grocery store, and rural America deserves free markets where farmers and ranchers can earn a fair return," Schumer concluded. "Food security is national security, and the federal government should treat it that way, starting with strong enforcement of the laws already on the books."