President Trump's campaign promise to lower grocery prices faces an early test as soaring egg costs, fueled by a nationwide bird flu outbreak, threaten to undermine his economic platform.
President Donald Trump 's 2024 campaign promise to tackle soaring grocery prices , a rallying cry against the cost of living under former President Joe Biden, is facing an early and formidable obstacle: eggs. Trump, riding a wave of public trust in his economic management, frequently criticized Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris over rising egg prices, vowing to swiftly reduce them.
In a December 2024 interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Trump stated, 'When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that. We're going to bring those prices way down.'This message resonated with voters, seemingly convincing them that Trump understood the perception, if not the reality, of price hikes. This effectively undercut the more factual, albeit abstract, arguments presented by Democrats that the U.S. economy was on a positive trajectory. However, Trump's critics now point to the dramatic increase in egg prices as evidence that the president may be incapable of controlling costs. Some have even asserted that reducing grocery prices, specifically eggs, was a 'Day One' pledge, referring to promises Trump made to deliver on his first day in office. Some of these, such as imposing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, have yet to materialize.On X, formerly Twitter, a post by user Alex Cole, viewed 106,000 times, stated: 'Donald Trump lied, he did not bring down the price of eggs on day one. It went up by almost 40%. It was much lower under Biden.' Newsweek was unable to locate any evidence that Trump explicitly pledged to lower egg prices on his first day in office. While Trump did make commitments to lower prices, he had not tied it to a guaranteed immediate action, acknowledging before his inauguration that it would be 'hard' to bring down prices. When asked in Time's '2024 Person of the Year' interview whether his presidency would be a 'failure' if he couldn't reduce grocery costs, Trump replied: 'I don't think so.' He continued, 'Look, they got them up. I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.'The Trump campaign, however, might have had some indication that promises regarding eggs could be politically perilous. The price of eggs has continued to climb since October, reaching an average of $4.14 in December, the highest since February 2023. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that the cost of eggs in California had surged by 70%, reaching $8.97 per dozen. This alarming trend is attributed to the widespread outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus on poultry farms across the United States. Updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention virus tracker have documented its relentless spread since March 2024 when it was first detected among goat kids in Minnesota that had shared pasture and water sources with infected ducks and chickens. By that same month, cases were reported among dairy cows in Kansas and Texas. In April, the first instance of cow-to-human transmission of the virus was reported, followed by three more cases between April and July.The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported that approximately 20 million egg-laying hens have perished, directly impacting both consumer and food manufacturer supply chains, and driving up prices. 'Commodity egg volume is likely to continue to decline four to five percent per year going forward and could level out at around 50 percent of the volume, down from 80 percent not too long ago,' Tom Flocco, CEO at humane egg supplier Pete & Gerry's, told Newsweek in January 2025, adding that 'pasture-raised and free-range eggs are about the same price they were last year.' He further warned, 'The egg shortage is impacting far more than just the retail egg market. Manufacturers, restaurants, ingredient producers and companies that manufacture products that use, feature or contain eggs will be feeling the squeeze. This issue can also expose some already big cracks in the fragile food supply chain.'Where Does This Leave Trump? Experts have emphasized that rectifying prices caused by bird flu will not be an immediate solution; flocks require replenishment, and there is no definitive timeline for achieving that goal. As reported by Newsweek on Wednesday, a Chicago farm lost 3,000 of its hens to the disease this week alone. The reality of a virus that will impact supply chains, farmers, and manufacturers presents a formidable challenge for any politician, let alone one who has promised to lower grocery costs.Trump's plans for reducing grocery prices are broad, primarily focusing on lowering energy prices through increased domestic fossil fuel extraction. In the same Time magazine interview where he acknowledged the difficulty of bringing down prices, Trump stated: 'I think that energy is going to bring them down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down. You know, the supply chain is still broken. It's broken.' This premise is not entirely unfounded, as energy costs play a significant role in the overall price of goods. However, the effectiveness of this strategy in addressing the specific issue of rising egg prices, largely driven by an avian influenza outbreak, remains to be seen.
Donald Trump 2024 Election Grocery Prices Bird Flu Eggs Economy Food Supply Chain H5N1
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