FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Contact: comms@ncdoj.gov
919-538-2809
RALEIGH — Last week, Attorney General Jeff Jackson protected billions for North Carolinians from illegal tariffs and shut down a secret data exchange that allowed meat producers to hike up the costs of chicken, pork, and turkey on consumers.
On May 7, the Court of International Trade court struck down the federal administration’s latest round of tariffs, agreeing with Attorney General Jackson that the tariffs were illegal.
“The first round of tariffs already cost North Carolina $3.5 billion, and the latest round was on track to cost families up to $1,300 this year,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “That’s a lot of money. Throwing out these tariffs keeps that money in people’s pockets for food, gas, rent, and medicine.”
In February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal government’s first round of tariffs, which were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The administration imposed a new round of tariffs under a different law, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, the very same day.
Attorney General Jackson and a coalition of attorneys general sued to block the Section 122 tariffs, arguing that they were illegal because Section 122 doesn’t authorize the president to issue tariffs under the country’s current financial circumstances.
The Court of International Trade agreed. It said that the president doesn’t have “inherent authority to impose tariffs during peacetime” and that the authority belongs to Congress.
On the same day the tariffs were struck down, Attorney General Jackson, a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general, and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement to shut down a secret data exchange used by meat processors to coordinate higher prices for chicken, pork, and turkey at grocery stores across the state and the rest of the country.
“This is exactly the kind of rigged game that upsets people, and we’re here to take it down,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “Meat processors had a secret tool that helped them raise prices on chicken, pork, and turkey. Families paid higher prices so a handful of companies could profit off information no one else was allowed to see. That’s not a market, it’s an illegal conspiracy – and we just ended it.”
Agri Stats produced comprehensive weekly and monthly reports about its clients’ sales, live production, processing, and profits and then sold those reports to participating processors. Processors then used those reports to increase their prices. For example, certain reports gave processors insights into future inventories, which allowed them to raise prices when they knew supply would be low. The sales reports ranked the price of a product compared with the price of a comparable product from a competitor, enabling producers to identify opportunities to raise prices. At one point, Agri Stats subscribers processed roughly 95 percent of the broiler chicken in the country.
The complaint also alleged that Agri Stats sold its reports only to meat processors, refusing to sell them to grocery stores, restaurants, farmers, or workers. That meant one side of every negotiation had detailed competitor data and the other side did not.
This settlement ends this abusive, inflationary practice. It bars Agri Stats from producing sales reports and rank metrics, which were the main tools processors used to drive up prices, and it bars the company from publishing information that allows other processors to identify the contributing entity. The settlement requires Agri Stats to make continuing reports publicly available for purchase, which will help create a fairer, more competitive market. Additionally, Agri Stats will be subject to a compliance monitor for seven years and must adopt an antitrust compliance program.
Attorney General Jackson was joined in reaching the settlement by the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorneys General of California, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
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