With President-elect Donald Trump’s historic and unprecedented win in the 2024 presidential election, it’s safe to say America will undergo several significant policy changes when his term begins in 2025. One issue that seems to be of high concern to many voters? Grocery prices and the inflation that drives them.
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American shoppers have noticed that food and grocery prices have been a rising expense, with NBC News reporting that the average cost of groceries has risen 22% over the past four years and food banks are hitting record numbers of people requiring assistance. Meanwhile, inflation rates spiked in 2022, but have settled back to their historical groove of 2-3%.
How will the incoming administration impact our current grocery prices?
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As the Pennsylvania Independent reported in September, Trump plans to lower grocery prices by instituting tariffs on food imports.
“We allow a lot of farm product into our country. We’re going to have to be a little bit lie other countries. We’re not going to allow so much — we’re going to let our famers go to work,” Trump announced in a Michigan town hall at the time.
Tariffs are taxes placed upon imported foreign products, and the companies importing those goods pay those taxes. However, because those tariffs costs the importers more money, they then in turn raise the prices of their goods.
What does that mean for the average American shopper? If Trump goes through with his tariffs plan, grocery prices will likely go up, rather than down, according to most economists — at least in the short term. This is especially an issue with food products, as American farmers and fishers aren’t able to speedily increase production of food to counteract the import price hike. While it’s possible that their eventual production increases will level out grocery prices, in the near future, if Trump commits to his tariff plan, prices will likely rise on such imported items like coffee and certain fruits, like bananas.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How President-Elect Trump’s Win Could Impact Grocery Prices
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