U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that egg prices increased 14.5% since President Donald Trump took office, increasing from $6.57 to $7.52 per dozen. And for the week of Feb. 2 through Feb. 7, egg prices have gone up even more, with large eggs costing $7.72 per dozen.
Bird flu has caused egg prices to rise to all-time highs in grocery stores, fast-food chains, and diners, but Trump has yet to address the issue.
In fact, since his second term began, Trump has only uttered the word “food” six times when speaking at a political rally or to reporters. He hasn’t said the word “eggs” since he was sworn in.
Instead, Trump has been focused on signing a staggering 84 executive actions—including orders, proclamations, and memos—with not a single one focused explicitly on lowering food costs. After combing through the text of each executive action, Daily Kos found that the words “food” and “eggs” were used one single time.
A Feb. 1 executive order on tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China doesn’t only omit food costs, but it would actually raise food prices for Americans.
All of Trump’s sweeping executive orders show his priorities clearly lie elsewhere, like falsely blaming DEI for a tragic plane crash, appointing televangelists to an “anti-Christian bias” taskforce, discriminating against trans people, and unconstitutionally banning birthright citizenship.
Trump is likely banking on Americans having short memories, since it was only a few months ago that he couldn’t stop talking about how he’d fix food prices before being elected.
During the last days of his campaign, from October 12 to November 4, he mentioned “eggs” four times and “food” 23 times. But during his first week in office, he changed his tune, telling reporters that inflation is no longer his No. 1 issue.
“They all said inflation was the No. 1 issue. I said, ‘I disagree,’” Trump said on Jan. 26. “I talked about inflation too, but how many times can you say that an apple has doubled in cost?”
Democrats take to the floor to call out Trump’s ‘eggflation’
“Why did the Senator cross the road?” Sen. Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island asked on Thursday. “To help drive down ‘eggflation.’”
“The Trump Administration has taken zero substantive steps to address the situation,” he said in a letter to USDA pick Brooke Rollins on Thursday, urging her to act on lowering egg prices.
On Tuesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, addressed Trump’s inaction on lowering food costs on the Senate floor. She showed photos of her state’s “empty shelves where the eggs are supposed to be” and said that, if people can find them, “they cost an arm and a leg.”
While Democrats are fighting to lower costs and calling out Trump’s tariffs as “taxes on working families,” the GOP is set on supporting Trump’s chaotic and expensive trade war, no matter how much it hurts Americans’ wallets.
“These tariff taxes will affect groceries because the U.S. imports 38% of our fresh vegetables, 60% of our fresh fruit, and more than 99% of the coffee we drink. If we take all these together, Americans could be seeing an extra $200 a year on their grocery bills because of the Trump tariff tax,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said on Wednesday.
Trump is making it apparent that he has no plans to work on lowering food prices, and he probably never did—he just knew what to say to swindle voters.
