Executive Order 14364: Addressing Security Risks From Price Fixing and Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Food Supply Chain

What does Executive Order 14364 do?

The Attorney General and FTC chair were each to create a Food Supply Chain Security Task Force, investigate possible anticompetitive conduct and brief congressional leaders within 180 and 365 days. Any enforcement action depends on investigative findings and applicable law.

Later official evidence reviewed September 26, 2026: DOJ reported establishing an Antitrust Division Food Supply Chain Security Task Force in May 2026; FTC’s FY 2027 budget justification also reports its corresponding task force. Neither report establishes liability or lower food prices.

Reading the operative provisions of Executive Order 14364

EO 14364 directs the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to investigate competition concerns and potential foreign control in food supply chains. It calls for task forces and review of conduct such as price fixing, market concentration or practices that may raise costs for farmers, processors and consumers. The Federal Register text sets agency assignments; it does not establish that any named company fixed prices or committed an antitrust violation.

Antitrust enforcement requires evidence of conduct covered by the Sherman Act, Clayton Act or other applicable law. Market concentration alone is not automatically unlawful, and price changes can have many causes, including supply, weather, transportation and demand. DOJ and FTC investigations may examine documents, market structure and communications before deciding whether to file a case.

The order also treats food supply as a national-security concern. That policy framing can guide review but does not substitute for the legal elements of an antitrust offense. Agencies must use lawful investigative powers and protect confidential business information. Consumers and producers can assess results through public complaints, settlements, judgments and market data—not by assuming that a task force’s creation proves misconduct.