[President-elect Donald Trump says Americans not being able to afford groceries will be a relic of the past. “They’re going to be affording their groceries very soon,” he said Thursday before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was honored as Time’s “Person of the Year.”
Americans paid 22% more for groceries last month compared to when Trump left office in January 2021, per November Consumer Price Index data released earlier this week. And, compared to February 2020, before the pandemic, Americans paid 27% more for groceries in November.
On the campaign trail, Trump predominantly focused on drilling more oil as a means to help Americans afford more food. But, ahead of his return to the White House, his strategy to bring grocery prices down has shifted slightly to focus on supply chain issues in addition to drilling more oil.
“It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up”: Speaking in front of a table of packaged foods, Trump used an August press conference to draw attention to food inflation during his campaign for president. “Grocery prices have skyrocketed,” he said.
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one,” Trump continued. “We will drill, baby, drill,” he said, referring to increasing domestic oil production. “That’s going to bring down prices of everything.”
Economists generally prefer to see prices increase modestly across an economy rather than fall, a scenario known as deflation, because it can cause people to put off purchases. And often, when prices for goods fall significantly, it’s because more people are unemployed and the economy is in a downturn.
“It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up,” Trump said in his Time Magazine “Person of the Year” interview published Thursday, referring to grocery prices. “You know, it’s very hard…But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down.”
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