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In January a headline in The Guardian read: ‘$18 a dozen: how did American eggs become absurdly expensive’, reflecting a new reality lurking in the US. Egg prices in the country are reaching record highs, according to a report released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reveals a significant increase in February, coinciding with the arrival of the former president in power, the outbreak of avian flu and persistent inflation.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index data, the cost of eggs rose 10.4% in February alone, after 15.2% in January. This report comes shortly after Donald Trump shared on Truth Social an article titled ‘Shut up about the price of eggs: Trump is saving consumers millions’, written by conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In the article, Kirk blames former President Joe Biden for rising commodity prices, while arguing that Trump is focused on saving Americans money on other fronts, despite having no immediate solutions to high food prices.
Reducing commodity prices was one of Trump’s key promises for the 2024 election. In August, he claimed that if he won, prices would come down ‘immediately, from day one’. However, after his return to the White House and in the face of a struggling economy, the Trump administration softened its rhetoric and acknowledged that the president has limited control over some of the causes of inflation, the latest spikes of which are attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
