Ever since slaughterhouses became coronavirus hot spots, the meat industry has been asking the Trump administration for help.

Hundreds of employees have been getting sick or not showing up for work for fear of contracting the virus. Labor unions, which had been largely quiet in their dealings with many of the large meat companies before the pandemic, started to hold regular news conferences to highlight the growing number of deaths among their workers.

And in some states, health departments were shutting down meatpacking plants, even as the companies warned that the nation’s meat supply was in peril.

An industry used to getting what it wants was uncharacteristically on its heels. On Tuesday, President Trump finally gave the meat companies what they were looking for — a broad declaration that the slaughtering and processing of beef, chicken and pork is a “critical infrastructure” and that federal agencies would now set the criteria for ensuring workers’ safety amid the pandemic.