Key Points and Summary – Despite President Trump’s campaign promises to lower food prices, grocery costs have remained “stubbornly high,” becoming a major source of stress for American families.
-While the administration claims tariffs are filling U.S. coffers with foreign money, economic analyses show the cost is being passed directly to American businesses and consumers.
-This is evident in everything from the price of imported goods like bananas to the rising cost of beef and even fast food.
-Critics now argue the tariffs are functioning not as a tool against foreign adversaries, but as a “giant national sales tax” on Americans.
What Is Going on with Food Prices?
One of the big things Donald Trump ran on in 2024 was a promise to do something about inflation, especially when it came to food prices. “The price of eggs,” during that 2024 campaign, was often used as a shorthand for this issue that was top of mind for so many voters.
But Trump, like a lot of presidents, has discovered that lowering inflation isn’t quite as easy as it sounds.
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” Trump declared during the 2024 campaign. Per a story by Nexstar Media Group, reported around the country, grocery prices have remained “stubbornly high,” and even have increased in some cases.
The Nextar story cited Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, which found that food prices have gone up between 0.2% and 0.4% nearly every month since January. Trump, last month, fired the head of the BLS, although that was done due to disagreements about jobs reports, rather than those of food prices.
As for “the price of eggs,” they have dropped from their highs, but remain higher than usual.
Where Food Prices Keep Climbing
Meanwhile, a report by the Fox station in Memphis found that some people chose to forego their traditional Labor Day barbecue due to the price of meat having risen.
That story cited the Consumer Price Index, stating that overall food prices had risen 2.7 percent from the year before, with ground beef prices up 11.5 percent and beef steak prices up 12 percent.
The Fox 13 story also cited an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finding that 53 percent of those surveyed called grocery costs “a major stress.” That poll found food prices have become an even bigger worry than anything else listed, which included the cost of housing, savings, the cost of health care, or student debt.
Forbes reported, citing the AP-NORC survey, if you add the 53 percent to the 33 percent who saw it as a minor worry, nearly 90 percent of those surveyed were at least somewhat worried about food prices.
Is It the Tariffs?
Opponents of the Trump Administration’s tariff policies have been arguing, since Trump’s return to office, that those tariffs would lead to increased inflation.
In late July, the Tax Foundation reported that “a variety of food imports are also impacted by the tariffs, and these will likely lead to higher food prices for consumers.”
One example that the report cited was bananas. The vast majority of bananas in the U.S. are imported from Guatemala and other places in Central America. And while there are a handful of places in Florida and Hawaii where the climate would allow for banana production, producers in those areas “would not be able to expand banana production as easily to meet US demand.” The result would likely be higher prices for bananas.
Other products, like Brazilian coffee, can by definition not be produced in the United States.
That report also stated that Trump’s tariffs were likely to affect nearly 75 percent of food imports, with $163 billion affected and $58 billion not affected.
Fast Food Gets More Expensive
Fast food was once viewed as an affordable, albeit less nutritious, food option.
But those prices, in particular, have risen in recent years, with even special combos often exceeding the $10 mark.
USA Today, last week, looked at why that was, with experts pointing to everything from higher meat prices to increasing real estate costs to higher labor costs in states that have increased minimum wage.
However, McDonald’s has announced plans to launch new extra value meals, including an $8 Big Mac meal and a $5 Sausage McMuffin meal.
This is seen as an attempt by the fast food giant to reverse recent declines in foot traffic- and could even set off a price war in the fast food sector.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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