In April 2025, Donald Trump stood at the podium and proudly declared grocery prices had dropped—eggs down 87%, gas down to $1.98. On the surface, it sounds like a win. If you’re a voter who just wants cheaper bills, it plays well. But if you zoom out even slightly, that claim starts to unravel. Because presidents don’t lower grocery prices. They don’t raise them either. They just wear them—and weaponize them.

Let’s start with the eggs.

Yes, prices have come down. At the peak of the avian flu crisis earlier this year, wholesale eggs hit nearly $6 a dozen. Today? Around $3.13. That’s a major drop, but it’s not 87%, and it’s not because of policy. It’s because the hens finally came back. A naturally cycling agricultural recovery. The government didn’t “fix” it—biology did.

The Biden administration didn’t stop bird flu. Just like Trump didn’t restart the egg supply. But in politics, timing is everything. Say it loud enough, with enough confidence, and the average person struggling to afford groceries might believe you helped.

Now gas prices.

Trump’s been out front claiming gas is down to $1.98 a gallon. Sounds great—if it were true. But it’s not. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as of mid-April 2025, the national average sits around $3.15 to $3.17 per gallon. That’s echoed by AAA and GasBuddy, whose own live tracking tools confirm: no state averages below $2.70.

The cheapest states—Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—float between $2.70 and $2.78. Even in Texas, where prices tend to run low due to proximity to Gulf refineries, the lowest individual station reported by GasBuddy was $2.19 per gallon—not $1.98, and certainly not a statewide norm.

Here’s the kicker: the last time gas dropped below $2 nationally? April 2020. During a global pandemic. Demand collapsed, oil futures briefly turned negative, and prices bottomed out around $1.84 per gallon—because no one was driving. That wasn’t policy. That was paralysis.

So when Trump touts $1.98 today, he’s either cherry-picking a rural outlier or referencing a ghost of lockdown economics. Either way, it’s misleading. And that’s the point: speak in averages when they help, cite one-offs when they don’t. It’s a strategy, not a slip.

If your standard for leadership is being in office when something happened, then sure—he was president in 2020. But unless we’re crediting him with the lockdowns that crashed demand and drove prices into the dirt, this isn’t a victory lap. It’s just spin.

Framing that as a nationwide accomplishment is like taking credit for sunny weather in Phoenix—it might be technically true somewhere, but it’s not proof of leadership. It’s marketing dressed up as economic policy.

But this isn’t about Trump being uniquely dishonest. This is about a system that lets presidents claim victory or take blame for forces they don’t control. Whether it’s Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush, or whoever comes next, grocery prices respond to climate, supply chains, disease, global trade, and corporate policy—not the bully pulpit.

And, to be fair:

The Trump administration did implement economic policies that made headlines. Most notably in 2017, when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% down to 21%. The pitch? Give businesses more breathing room, and they’ll reinvest—into jobs, wages, infrastructure, maybe even lower prices for consumers.

But what actually happened?

• Corporations executed over $1 trillion in stock buybacks, enriching shareholders and consolidating market control.

• Wages saw marginal gains, largely in low-wage sectors—and not because of corporate generosity, but due to labor market tightening.

• Consumer prices didn’t fall. They stayed flat or rose, because companies aren’t in the business of passing savings along.

Supporters still argue: “Well, deregulation and tax relief reduced overhead. That’s good for growth.”
But critics fire back: “Sure. And that growth went straight to the top.”

And they weren’t wrong. By 2025, the data is hard to ignore: the TCJA helped solidify corporate profits, not democratize them. There was no accountability built into the tax cut—no strings attached. No requirements for hiring, no stipulations on reinvestment, no caps on executive bonuses.

It was trickle-down without the trickle.

And now, Trump’s back to making similar promises—but with fewer specifics and even less regulation

Now tariffs—Trump’s favorite economic weapon.

During his first term, Trump wielded tariffs like a sledgehammer—starting with China, but quickly extending to Canada, the EU, Mexico, and more. It was marketed as a strategy to bring manufacturing home, punish unfair trade practices, and protect American jobs.

But here’s what actually happened:

• The China trade war raised the cost of imported raw materials—steel, aluminum, electronics, and especially agricultural inputs like machinery and fertilizer.

• China retaliated, slapping tariffs on U.S. soybeans, pork, and other exports—gutting farmers’ access to one of their largest global markets.

• Trump’s response wasn’t to revise or end the tariffs. Instead, he cut checks—$28 billion in bailout subsidies, mostly to farmers impacted by his own policies.

That wasn’t policy clarity. That was policy whiplash—lighting a fire, then showing up with a hose and calling it leadership.

Now, in 2025, he’s doubling down. Trump has proposed a blanket 10% tariff on all imports, plus even steeper duties on countries deemed economically “unfair.” China is squarely in his crosshairs—again.

The pitch is familiar: protect American industry. The reality? Retailers like Walmart, Target, and the National Retail Federation are warning that this is no surgical tool—it’s a cost grenade. When you tax the backbone of supply chains without rebuilding domestic capacity, you’re not punishing overseas factories.
You’re punishing American households.

• Grocery prices climb when packaging, fertilizer, and imported produce get taxed.

• Clothing and electronics spike because global supply chains can’t pivot overnight.

• Small businesses get squeezed hardest—they can’t absorb rising costs like multinational giants can.

• And even U.S. manufacturers suffer when tariffs hit their own components and materials.

So is this protectionism? Maybe. But without real investment in domestic production, workforce retraining, or logistics independence, it’s not protection—it’s price inflation in a patriotic wrapper.

And here’s the kicker: unlike monetary policy or stimulus, tariffs are a regressive tax. They don’t reduce inflation. They shift it—quietly, invisibly—onto your grocery bill, your electric bill, and your next tech upgrade.

As of April 2025, the United States has imposed a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. This sweeping increase has already sent shockwaves through global manufacturing—particularly electronics. (AP News)

Analysts warn that if Apple continues building iPhones in China and passes the full tariff to consumers, the price of a top-tier iPhone—like the 1TB Pro Max—could reach $3,500.
Not because it got better. But because you’re now paying the political premium.

If Apple moves production to the U.S.? It’s still more expensive. Experts project $2,000 to $2,200 per device, due to higher labor and compliance costs.

No matter where it’s built, one thing is clear:
It’s not Beijing paying for this policy. It’s you.

So when Trump says he’s fighting for the American worker, ask this:
Is he shielding jobs? Or just rerouting costs?

Trump says he’s “lowered the cost of living,” what does he actually mean?
An executive order to “explore” price relief. No enforcement. No caps. No mandates. Just the illusion of motion.

Let’s not pretend Biden is the solution either. Grocery prices hit record highs on his watch, and despite cooling inflation, food remains one of the last categories to come down. Corporate margins are at all-time highs. Companies could lower prices—but they don’t. Because they don’t have to. Consolidation is king. Regulation is toothless.

And that brings us to immigration.

Trump is doubling down on mass deportations. As he follows through, we’re talking about a massive labor vacuum—particularly in agriculture. Go to Yakima, WA, or Salinas, CA. Who’s picking fruit? Packing vegetables? It’s undocumented workers. Remove them, and either:

• No one picks the crops, or

• Wages go up to attract workers—and so do prices.

Republicans won’t say it. Democrats won’t fix it. But the system is built on cheap, invisible labor. Ending that labor without restructuring the supply chain means one thing: inflation—just under a different name.

So here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud:

Presidents don’t lower your grocery bill. They inherit economic waves. They pose on top of them. Sometimes they make them worse. But more often, they just distract you while corporate America sets the price tags behind the curtain.

Eggs didn’t drop because of a policy. Gas isn’t at $1.98. And no executive order is going to break the grocery-industrial complex.

If we’re going to talk about affordability, we need to talk about:

• Monopolies in meat and produce.

• Corporate price gouging hidden behind “inflation.”

• And the exploitation built into every aisle.

Until then, we’re just debating the face on the coin—not the weight of the system it spins in.