President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order on September 4, 2026, titled “Supporting America’s Ranchers,” setting 90-day deadlines for three separate federal actions: a government-wide review of regulations affecting ranchers, a determination on whether gray wolves and Mexican wolves have met Endangered Species Act recovery criteria, and a review of legal authorities for mandatory country-of-origin labeling on beef.
The order states that “the national herd is at a 75-year low, while consumer demand for beef has grown almost 10 percent over the past decade.” The order does not identify a data source for either figure.
The regulatory review
Section 2 directs the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, the United States Trade Representative, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to submit a joint report to the President within 90 days. The report is to assess “all executive department and agency (agency) regulations, guidance, and other agency policies affecting ranchers” and recommend actions to promote financial viability and market access for ranchers.
Wolf listing status
Section 3 requires the Secretary of the Interior, within 90 days, to determine whether the gray wolf and the Mexican wolf have met recovery criteria for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act. If the Secretary determines the criteria have been met, the order directs him to begin the delisting or downlisting process.
Separately, the Secretary is directed to prepare a legislative recommendation, in coordination with the Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs, to fully delist or downlist both wolves under the statute.
Should the Secretary find the recovery criteria met, the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, working with the Secretary of Agriculture, is to engage with states to encourage them to remove the two wolves from state protected-species lists and to revise state standards for lethal takings.
The order also directs the Interior and Agriculture Secretaries to consider amending their departments’ producer compensation regulations, evidentiary standards and program handbooks so that depredation claims — claims filed by livestock producers for animals killed by predators — are “consistently, accurately, and expeditiously assessed.” That includes, the order says, “considering additional factors beyond subcutaneous hemorrhaging when appropriate,” a reference to the physical evidence used to confirm that an animal was killed by a predator rather than dying of other causes.
A further provision directs the Interior Secretary to consider revising criteria for authorizing lethal removal of gray wolves and Mexican wolves and to enable “greater emergency responsiveness, including precision targeting,” for threats to human safety or to domestic livestock.
Country-of-origin labeling
Section 4 gives the Secretary of Agriculture 90 days, in consultation with the U.S. Trade Representative, to review all statutory and regulatory authorities that may permit mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef products, and to provide the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy with a summary of those authorities plus an economic analysis of the impacts of such labeling.
Based on those assessments, the order says the Secretary “may issue or amend regulations, to the extent permitted under applicable law,” to require mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef, or may develop legislative recommendations on the subject.
The order distinguishes this from existing practice, describing prior administration action as “enforcing voluntary ‘Product of USA’ labeling.”
Prior actions cited
The order lists steps the administration says it has already taken for ranchers. According to the order, these include mapping over 2 million additional acres of grazing land managed by the Department of the Interior; identifying nearly 1.6 million acres of vacant allotments managed by the United States Forest Service and opening them for federal grazing permit applications across the West; withdrawing what the order calls “burdensome Biden-era regulations that imposed substantial compliance costs in the name of speculative environmental benefits”; and implementing tax changes including lowering what the order terms “Death Taxes” and promoting more rapid expensing and depreciation.
Consumer prices and limits
Section 5 directs the head of each agency to take steps “as may be appropriate” to ensure the measures in the order, and other administration measures on food production and supply, benefit American consumers “in the form of lower prices to the maximum extent possible.” The order sets no target, metric or deadline for that section.
The order states it is to be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations, and that it does not create any right or benefit enforceable at law or in equity against the United States. It specifies that publication costs are to be borne by the Department of Agriculture.
The White House also published a related fact sheet the same day, titled “President Donald J. Trump Supports America’s Ranchers.”
Source: White House, “Supporting America’s Ranchers” (Executive Order, Presidential Actions), released September 4, 2026. The order states that it shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations, and that it is not intended to and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States.