WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s relentless lying finally appears to have encountered a problem it cannot overcome: grocery prices, which, in large part because of his tariffs, have been rising nearly twice as quickly as they had under predecessor Joe Biden. “Grocery prices are way down,” the president has been saying, time after time after time after time, for months, including twice on Thursday and once again on Friday.
Statistics from the government he runs, however, belie that claim. Inflation for food items has been 3.1% since Trump declared his trade war against the rest of the world in early April, compared to 1.8% in Biden’s final year, according to a HuffPost analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Trump’s tariffs — which are paid by American importers at ports of entry — have hit products from virtually every country, including those with which the United States has free trade agreements. Items like coffee, bananas, sugar and seafood have seen the most dramatic price increases thanks to tariffs.
And unlike other of his frequent lies on topics about which most Americans have no first-hand knowledge — for example his claim that other countries pay U.S. tariffs or that he has ended eight wars or that he has already brought in $22 trillion in foreign investments — groceries and how much they cost is a subject that nearly everyone deals with at least once or twice a week.
