The Biden administration has accused the meat industry of collusion because it has little understanding of what is causing prices to rise, Peter Navarro, former economic adviser to President Donald Trump, told Newsmax.
"During the Trump administration, I was the Defense Production Act policy coordinator, and then we had instances of price gouging, which we cracked down on immediately," Navarro said Thursday on "Eric Bolling: The Balance." "This is not that. As hard, as tough as I might be on a Big Agriculture, Big Agribusiness, they're not the villains in this piece."
Rather, he said, complex economic forces are bearing down on the country at the supply-and-demand level.
The first is the "labor situation," he said, with the food production industry being a dangerous occupation in the first place. On top of that, it has been hit hard by COVID-19.
In addition, feed prices have risen dramatically, which has been caused by weather conditions such as drought.
The Chinese have also been buying into the U.S. meat industry in hopes of controlling the American food supply, he said.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, questioned the increase in meat prices from the White House lectern.
"That's the highest-ranking economic official besides the Treasury secretary basically not fundamentally understanding the underlying market forces that are creating this problem," Navarro told Newsmax.
"If he can't understand those forces, he can't address them."
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