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\n President Donald Trump pledged to bring down grocery costs. But his administration\u2019s policies are contributing to an acceleration in prices, food economists and companies say.\n <\/p>\n
\n Grocery prices last month rose at their fastest pace in three years, stoked by Trump\u2019s tariffs, a crackdown on immigration, and extreme weather hurting food production. Prices jumped 0.6% in August from the month prior, according to the latest reading<\/a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are up 2.7% from a year ago.\n <\/p>\n \n Food prices are deeply personal to consumers, and weekly grocery bills shape their overall perceptions of the economy. More than half of Americans count grocery costs as a major stress<\/a> in their lives.\n <\/p>\n \n Low-income and middle-income Americans, hit the hardest by rising grocery costs, are changing where they shop and what they buy. Companies are also taking extreme measures to appeal to shoppers strained by higher prices, such as bringing back paper coupons.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cFood prices are top of mind for consumers and people across the country. It\u2019s dominating the conversation across kitchen tables,\u201d said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University. \u201cIt\u2019s also a political flash point. People went to the voting booth last campaign voting for their candidate to lower grocery prices.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Ortega said the greatest price impact is on foods that either rely heavily on immigrant labor to produce in the United States, such as fruit and vegetables, or those grown almost exclusively in other countries and subject to steep tariffs, like coffee and bananas.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe policy agenda that we\u2019re seeing is more likely to increase the price of food,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n If tariffs remain at current levels, food prices will rise 3.4% in the short-run and stay 2.5% higher in the long-run, Yale University\u2019s Budget Lab estimates.<\/a> Based on the tariffs imposed by Trump this year, the average effective tariff rate in the United States has spiked to the highest level since 1935, according to The Budget Lab.\n <\/p>\n \n But White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that one month of data does not make a trend, and the rate of inflation under Trump has slowed from the final months of the Biden administration.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has struck \u201cunprecedented trade deals and trillions in historic investment commitments\u201d that are \u201claying the groundwork for the long-term restoration of American Greatness,\u201d Desai said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Trump administration said that trade deals with other countries would include tariff exceptions on items such as coffee and bananas. But right now, heavily imported foods are seeing some of the sharpest increases.\n <\/p>\n \n Coffee prices<\/a> surged by 3.6% last month, the largest one-month increase since 2011, according to the latest Consumer Price Index. Coffee prices are up 20.9% so far this year, a near-record annual increase. The US gets most of its coffee from Brazil, and Brazilian imports \u2013 including coffee \u2013 began facing 50% tariffs<\/a> last month.\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s not just your cup of joe. America is highly dependent on other countries for most of its fresh fruit and vegetables. Imports make up 60% of fresh fruit and 38% of fresh vegetables in the United States, according to the Agriculture Department.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Prices on these items are rising. Last month, apple prices increased 3.5%, lettuce 3.5% and bananas 2.1% from the month prior, the index showed.\n <\/p>\n \n Tomato prices were up 4.5%. The United States depends on Mexico for a variety of fresh tomatoes, most of which began facing 17% tariffs<\/a> in July after a nearly three-decade-old trade agreement expired.\n <\/p>\n \n Agricultural production in the United States relies on undocumented workers. Undocumented immigrant farmworkers who produce fruits and vegetables account for 42% of farmworkers in the United States, according to the Agriculture Department<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n That means the administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration, including at job sites, is impacting the food industry. Immigration raids have hurt major growing areas, leaving crops unharvested at California farms and scared off workers at dairy farms in New York<\/a> and other states.\n <\/p>\n \n Since January, 1.2 million foreign-born workers have left<\/a> the labor force. Agricultural employment dropped 6.5% from March to July, a loss of about 155,000 workers, reversing two years of growth.\n <\/p>\n \n A shrinking workforce will also chill investments in the food supply chain, said William Masters, a professor of food and nutrition economics at Tufts University.\n <\/p>\n \n Having fewer immigrant workers has pushed labor costs up, fueling higher prices, economists say.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf you\u2019re thinking of a new orchard, greenhouse, or warehouse, you wouldn\u2019t do that now because you would not get workers,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s policies aren\u2019t the only factor contributing to the rise in prices\u2014 climate change is also boosting costs.\n <\/p>\n \n Supply shortages in top orange-growing areas, worsened by climate change-influenced disasters like more severe hurricanes in Florida and intense droughts in Brazil, have pushed up prices<\/a>. Prices for oranges jumped 0.9% last month and 5.2% annually.\n <\/p>\n \n Beef prices increased 2.7% last month and were up 13.9% annually, driven by smaller cattle herds due to drought and processor closings. Cattle herd sizes are at their lowest levels<\/a> in 74 years, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.\n <\/p>\n \n Amid the higher costs of getting food on grocery store shelves, companies say a two-tier economy has opened up among shoppers.\n <\/p>\n \n Wealthier shoppers are still buying premium foods and ingredients, but lower-income shoppers are stressed. They\u2019re buying smaller sizes and skipping discretionary items, purchasing only the essentials.\n <\/p>\n \n Low- and middle-income households are \u201cmaking smaller but more frequent trips and they\u2019re buying more private label products. They\u2019re also eating out less,\u201d Kroger CEO Ron Sargent said on an earnings call last week. \u201cHigher income households \u2014 while they\u2019re also concerned about the economy and food prices \u2014 they\u2019re still spending. And they\u2019re splurging on some of the premium products.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Looming cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, will further strain low-income customers. Republicans\u2019 One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes the largest cuts in the program\u2019s 86-year history and will cause roughly 4 million people<\/a> a month to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits.\n <\/p>\n![\"Coffee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2225490095.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Immigration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gettyimages-2227264687.jpg\")
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