Last Friday, US President Donald Trump told reporters he had made major inroads on his campaign promise to lower food prices. But Observers say, his ‘plan’ to do that doesn’t make sense. US food prices remain sky high in spite of Trump’s Latest moves…
Trump has recently repeated the claim that his personal efforts (and only his) have reduced the overall price of food in the US by 25 percent. One look at your local supermarket’s shelves puts the lie to that one.
What he’s done…
Last Friday, Trump insisted he’s crafting a new plan to eliminate tariffs on foods such as bananas, beef, and coffee in an attempt to slow the grocery inflation that he’s recently denied is even happening.
In fact now, Trump admits that not all food prices have fallen…
“We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee,” Trump told reporters. But he also admitted that the tariffs have, “in some cases” raised consumer prices. True to his habit of blaming others for his failings, Trump added: “To a large extent, (the burden has) been borne by other countries.”
It’s all nonsense, of course.
What’s really going on…
Trump says his decision to cancel some tariffs on foreign food imports is aimed at making food ‘more affordable’. But his detractors insist its all just a front for his behind-the-scenes efforts to bolster his position in coming trade talks with countries including Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador.
One X user commented: (It’s like getting car-jacked, and then the jacker offers you a ride home.”
My take
“Back in April (which feels like a hundred years ago), I spoke with Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick,” BuzzFeed’s Megan Liscomb relates. “He cautioned that prices tend to shoot up like they’re on an elevator, but when or if they start to come back down, they move more slowly like they’re taking the stairs.”
He said, “There’s more elasticity with prices going up than there tends to be both in speed and magnitude going down. We see that all the time, whether it’s gasoline prices or other things.”
In addition, Liscomb notes, “Experts have warned that for some items like coffee, global shortages and supply chain issues mean that easing tariffs now may have little effect on the prices we pay at the grocery store.”
~ Maggie J.