Tracking grocery prices, Trump takes office with plan to cut costs
With President Donald Trump officially in office, voters will be keeping close track to see if he follows through on campaign promises.
One impacts just about every American: grocery prices.
Then-candidate Trump made cutting costs at the grocery store a pillar of the campaign — igniting rounds of cheering and applause when telling his supporters.
“Wait until how fast we’re going to get it going, we’ll get the prices down,” President Trump said at a Nov. 3 rally.
Not long after his landslide victory, though, Trump told TIME magazine, when asked about the topic, “I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
There are many factors that impact grocery prices, some of which can’t be controlled by a president.
“Presidents typically get too much credit when prices turn out nicely, and they get too much blame when prices turn out badly,” King Banaian, economics professor and director of the Center for Policy Research & Economic Engagement at Saint Cloud State University, said.
“Like any other good, prices are determined by supply and demand,” Banaian said.
He adds the policies put in place by President Trump will likely impact prices, but how remains to be seen — Banaian says, though, any expectation of a drastic drop should be tempered.
“Certain prices might go down, relief from avian flu might encourage the price of eggs or poultry to decline, but overall, prices are going to grow just more slowly than they did in the last two years,” Banaian said.
To track the impact of a second term with Trump as Commander in Chief, hours after he was sworn in, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS purchased groceries from a local grocery chain. Items included what one would likely buy during a quick trip to the store: milk, eggs, juice, cereal, bread, chicken, rice, a fruit and a vegetable, and peanut butter and jelly.
The total came to $57.29 — now, throughout President Trump’s presidency, we’ll check on those same prices.