Donald Trump’s plan to bring 300,000 metric tons, about 660 million pounds, of foreign beef into the United States without tariffs is being sold as relief for consumers. What it actually raises is a far more pungent question: Who benefits when a president floods the market with anonymous industrial meat?

Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation,” examined that question in a New York Times opinion essay and found a familiar Trump era aroma. Behind the promise of cheaper hamburger sits a web of deregulation, hidden sourcing, billionaire access, and political favors that deserves much more scrutiny.

This shipment will not consist of fresh sirloins, filets, or rib eyes destined for neighborhood dinner tables. It will largely contain lean beef trimmings, including frozen chunks that may have spent years sitting in overseas cold storage before reaching American processing plants.

Those trimmings will be mixed with fattier American beef inside enormous grinders, potentially combining pieces from tens of thousands of cattle raised across several countries. As Schlosser wrote, “They are the quintessence of generic industrial meat, imported here to be subsequently processed in massive grinders that combine pieces of tens of thousands of cattle from multiple countries, mainly into fast food hamburgers.”

Consumers may have little chance of knowing where that beef originated. Mandatory country of origin labeling for beef ended in 2015, when a Republican controlled Congress led by House Speaker John Boehner eliminated the requirement, removing a basic piece of information shoppers could use to protect themselves.

The revolving door began spinning almost immediately. Just over a year after Congress discarded the labeling rule, Boehner joined the board of JBS Foods International, part of the corporate empire connected to the largest meatpacking operation in the world.

JBS has its own disturbing history. In 2017, the Brazilian meat giant became entangled in a scandal involving allegations that inspectors and politicians were bribed to permit contaminated products to be sold, hardly the background that inspires confidence in a massive expansion of imported ground beef.

Brazilian billionaire Joesley Batista, who shares control of JBS, reportedly lobbied Trump to reduce tariffs on beef imports. Batista also obtained valuable access to the White House, aided by what the account described as his friendship with Melania Trump.

A JBS subsidiary donated $5 million to Trump’s second inauguration, reportedly the largest contribution from any person or corporation. Batista later met with Trump at the White House and argued that Brazilian beef could ease supply concerns if the administration removed a 26 percent import tax.

Trump announced his intention to permit more foreign beef without duties just one day after another White House meeting with Batista. That timing might be dismissed as coincidence by the terminally gullible, but Americans have watched this administration place billionaire access ahead of the public interest far too often.

The safety concerns are not theoretical. China and European nations have rejected beef shipments from Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina because of contamination involving drugs and antibiotics, while the European Union announced a suspension of certain meat imports from Brazil.

American meatpacking safety practices already leave plenty to be desired, but Schlosser argues that conditions can be worse in some countries authorized to ship raw beef here. Removing origin labels only makes it harder for families to identify risks or make informed choices at the grocery store.

Trump has also entertained cutting domestic processing standards after conservative personality Glenn Beck complained that “the inspections are insane” and that “the regulations are killing us.” Trump responded, “So you’re saying, with less regulation, you think that the ranchers and farmers would do a very good job of processing the beef?”

After Beck agreed, Trump declared, “Wow. I’m going to look at that today.” Ranchers and farmers, however, have reportedly opposed weakening meat inspections, understanding that one major outbreak could devastate consumer confidence and punish responsible producers alongside reckless corporations.

None of this appears likely to strengthen the finances of American ranchers, who would face additional competition from enormous volumes of cheaper imported beef. It also does nothing to advance public health, despite the administration’s endless marketing of its supposed campaign to make Americans healthy again.

Schlosser recommends avoiding hamburger unless it has been freshly ground from identifiable cuts of American beef, preferably by a local butcher or at home. That is practical advice in a system where Republicans stripped away transparency and Trump now wants consumers to swallow the consequences.

The pattern is painfully familiar. Wealthy insiders receive meetings, tax favors, and market access, while ordinary Americans receive mystery meat, weaker safeguards, and another lecture about how deregulation will somehow save them from the problems deregulation created.