President Trump commented on the price of eggs during remarks at the White House on Friday, claiming the cost has dropped significantly perhaps too much.
Speaking after Dr. Mehmet Oz was sworn in as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump praised Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for her work, saying egg prices are “down 87 percent, but nobody talks about that.”
“You can have all the eggs. You watch, we have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low,” Trump said. “So I just want to let you know that the prices are down.”
According to data from the Department of Agriculture, the average wholesale price of eggs on Friday was $3.13 per dozen slightly up from the previous week but still far below the peak prices seen earlier this year. Egg prices have steadily declined since February, and retail prices are beginning to follow the trend.
The Agriculture Department noted that while prices have eased “considerably from early-year highs,” they remain at levels that support only regular purchasing habits rather than increased demand.
Back in March, egg prices soared to $6.23 per dozen, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics up from $5.90 in February and $4.95 in January. Consumers had grown frustrated, and high egg costs quickly became a political issue.
“By the way, prices are down. Groceries are down. Eggs, which they you hit me so hard. I’ll never forget the first … day, first week in office, they were screaming at me about eggs,” Trump recalled. “I said, ‘What’s going on with eggs?’ They were doubling and tripling. I said, ‘I just got here.’ They were up like double, triple, and you couldn’t get any.”
Now that prices appear to be stabilizing or even falling too far, the conversation has shifted. But are egg prices really too low? And more importantly are you seeing lower prices at your local grocery store?