President Donald Trump signed an executive order telling federal agencies to review Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves and Mexican wolves. Officials said the review could ease limits on ranchers who want to kill wolves that attack livestock, as the administration tries to back the cattle industry and bring down beef prices. The order gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to decide whether the wolves have met federal recovery standards for delisting or downlisting. According to reporting from The Hill, if Burgum finds that those standards have been met, the administration would start the process of cutting or ending federal protections and would draft legislative recommendations for Congress. The same order tells the Interior Department and the Agriculture Department to look at changing rules on lethal wolf removal, programs that pay ranchers for livestock lost to predators, and emergency steps when wolves threaten livestock or people. Trump signed the order in the Oval Office with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and ranchers present. Interior secretary given 90 days to review wolf recovery status “They’re destroying these businesses,” Trump said. “You watch them go right through your herd, and they’re violent.” The administration’s push to bolster the industry comes as the beef import decision has drawn criticism from some GOP lawmakers. Rollins said ranchers cannot shoot wolves that attack their animals in places where the predators still have federal protection. “Because they’re on the endangered species list, they can’t shoot them,” Rollins said. “They have to sit and watch them destroy their herd.” According to USA Today, the wolf order was one of two executive actions Trump signed Friday after ranchers criticized a recent move to temporarily ease tariffs on imported beef. The White House says the U.S. cattle herd has dropped to its lowest point in 75 years while demand for beef has kept rising. The order tells agencies to find ways to strengthen ranching, study whether beef should carry country-of-origin labels, and take steps meant to lower prices for shoppers. Trump also signed a second executive order aimed at giving ranchers more ways to process and sell their own meat and at helping smaller processors compete with the largest companies. Federal policy shifts on endangered species can create urgent state-level scrambles, as Arizona faces with desert turtles whose habitat faces a Trump administration plan. Gray wolves first received endangered status in 1967 after hunting and other human activity reduced their numbers. The Trump administration lifted federal protections for gray wolves across most of the Lower 48 states in 2020. A federal judge put those protections back in place in 2022 after wildlife groups challenged the rule in court. House Republicans voted last year to restore the 2020 rule, but that bill is still pending in the Senate. Friday’s order also tells Burgum to prepare legislative recommendations to delist gray wolves and Mexican wolves. If the Interior Department finds the animals have met recovery goals, the administration plans to work with states so they drop their own protections and change the rules on when wolves can be killed. Humane World for Animals and the Humane World Action Fund criticized the order and said it could undo years of wolf recovery. Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund, said wolves are being used as a scapegoat for larger problems facing ranchers. “Scapegoating wolves is a cynical and performative gesture given the immense harm that the Trump administration has inflicted on our nation’s ranchers with irresponsible tariffs,” Amundson said in a statement. Amundson cited U.S. Department of Agriculture data showing that fewer than 1% of cattle and sheep deaths are caused by wild carnivores, including wolves. She said weaker federal protections would bring “untold death and cruelty” for gray wolves that she said are still recovering after being pushed near extinction across much of the Lower 48 states. Kitty Block, president and CEO of Humane World for Animals, said ending or weakening federal protections would put decades of conservation work at risk. “The war on wolves needs to end, not escalate,” Block said, adding that decisions about wolf management “should be based on science, not political favors.” Retail beef prices have hit record highs as the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its lowest level in 75 years, according to Reuters. The administration recently opened more access to lower-tariff imported beef in an effort to add supply and cut grocery costs. Cattle producers criticized that step and warned that more imports could make it harder to rebuild domestic herds. The White House has said the Friday orders are meant to support American ranchers, raise competition in meat processing, improve market access for domestic producers, and help lower food prices for consumers.