Consumer Alert: Examining price changes under President Trump

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Examining price changes under President Trump

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — During the presidential campaign, both candidates promised to tackle inflation and reduce prices. News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry has been tracking prices since President Trump took office two months ago to see if these promises are being fulfilled.

James Carville famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid,” highlighting the importance of economic issues. President Trump echoed this sentiment, promising during his campaign that Americans would see prices come down on day one. But are we seeing any real change at the grocery store?

Christina Pearl, a shopper at Tops, shared her skepticism: “Every time we get another president there’s always a lot of promises in the beginning.”

News10NBC has been monitoring the prices of bread, milk, and eggs at five grocery stores since the inauguration. Bread prices remained stable across all stores, with Tops at $1.79, Aldi’s, Price Rite, and Wegmans at $1.39, and Walmart at $1.42.

Milk prices stayed the same at three stores, but at Aldi’s, it dropped from $2.81 to $1.83. Conversely, Walmart saw an increase from $1.72 to $2.83.

Egg prices rose significantly across the board, with Aldi’s increasing from $3.99 to $5.97, Tops from $5.49 to $7.69, and Wegmans from $4.49 to $5.79. When asked if prices were decreasing, Pearl responded, “Not really. Gas prices are coming down.”

Indeed, gas prices in Rochester have fallen 12 cents since Trump took office, from $3.22 to $3.10 in Rochester. However, Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s chief petroleum analyst, warns that gas prices typically rise in spring due to the following three factors: the switch to a more expensive summer blend, less gasoline in the market because refineries generally partially shut down for maintenance, and an increase in demand with spring break travel. A spring price drop could signal a slowing economy.

“There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty over all of the policy changes that we’ve seen in the last couple of months,” said De Haan. “Businesses are finding it difficult to know exactly where the economy is heading.”

De Haan, like many analysts, attributes recent stock market sell-offs to Trump’s tariffs and the uncertainty they create. Economists predict that tariffs could increase prices on a range of products, from cars to colas.

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