He promised to make them cheaper too. Unfortunately:
President Trump spent his 2024 campaign promising Americans he’d lower grocery prices. Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, some substantially so.
Trump’s economic polling numbers are about the worst they’ve ever been, and almost on par with the worst of the Biden presidency. Whatever growth the administration says is coming from its trade and industrial policy, nothing is more vivid to households than what they pay to feed themselves.
The food-at-home component of the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in August from July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday. This was the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2022, the tail end of a year of huge monthly increases in grocery prices.
Trump has framed his tariffs on China, steel and other imports as a way to protect American workers and bring down costs. But those same trade barriers can raise input costs — from fertilizer to machinery to transportation — that ripple through food prices. Grocery chains, already facing higher wholesale costs, say they are trying to avoid passing the increases along to shoppers where possible.
I don’t know why they are avoiding it. To keep Trump happy?
Broad price increases last month hit key items that have been subject to Trump’s tariffs, including groceries. Coffee is up 20.9% year-over-year, with a 3.1% monthly increase, per CPI. Uncooked beef steaks are up 16.6% year-over-year with a 3.3% monthly bump. While fruits and vegetable overall were up 2.3% year over year, apples rose 9.6% and bananas, 6.6%.
There was a time when the price of eggs was such a massive problem that people decided they needed to put a convicted criminal who tried to overthrow a legal election into the White House. Are they similarly unhappy now? Well, yes.
Howard Lutnick said that this is Biden’s economy until next year so no biggie. I’d guess that will extend into 2027 if need be. The interesting difference between the two very similar results is that Biden actually did make the economy better during his term. Trump is making it worse.