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The price of eggs when trump starts predency and nor?
Executive summary
Egg prices were unusually high around the time Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January 2025 (BLS average about $4.95 per dozen in January) and then fell during the spring and early summer — wholesale egg prices plunged from roughly $6.55 in late January to about $3.00 by late March, and consumer retail averages declined from $4.95 in January to $3.78 by June, a drop noted as roughly 23.8% [1] [2] [3]. Reporting and fact-checkers agree wholesale prices fell faster than retail, and experts attribute the spike and subsequent decline mainly to the 2022–2025 avian influenza outbreak and seasonal/market dynamics rather than a single policy action [1] [2] [3].
1. Egg prices when Trump started his presidency: the high baseline
When Trump took office (his first full day noted in reporting as Jan. 21, 2025), consumer prices for a dozen large Grade A eggs were elevated — FactCheck and BBC cite an average near $4.95 per dozen at that time, and some outlets reported December 2024 and January 2025 averages above $4 [1] [4] [5]. The price surge going into early 2025 followed widespread flock culling from the avian influenza outbreak, which industry groups and the USDA linked to a tight supply and record-high retail costs [5] [6].
2. Wholesale vs. retail: where the falls happened fastest
Multiple outlets and fact-checkers emphasize that wholesale egg prices fell sharply in early 2025 — USDA and market data show wholesale quotes dropping from about $6.55 per dozen in late January to near $3.00 by late March (more than a 50% decline) — while retail (what consumers pay at grocery stores) lagged behind, so the register didn’t immediately reflect the full decline [2] [3] [4]. Poynter and PolitiFact both highlight this difference and call claims that "egg prices are down 50%" partially accurate but incomplete because they often conflate wholesale and retail figures [3] [2].
3. How big was the retail decline, and over what period?
FactCheck reported the nationwide consumer average for a dozen Grade A white eggs fell from $4.95 in January to $3.78 in June — a 23.8% decrease — while other outlets showed retail peaks earlier (December–March) and subsequent month-over-month drops into spring and summer of 2025 [1] [5]. ABC17NEWS and other pieces caution that despite spring declines, retail prices in mid‑2025 remained well above pre-outbreak levels and were substantially higher year-over-year in many months [7] [6].
4. Why prices rose and then fell: bird flu and market mechanics
Reporting and experts cited by FactCheck, AP and others point to the highly pathogenic avian influenza as the primary driver of the earlier spike — mass culling reduced supply, pushing wholesale and retail prices up — and that seasonal factors and the winding down of outbreaks helped send wholesale prices down in spring 2025 [1] [6] [2]. Analysts in the coverage say much of the spring fall in prices occurred before new administration policies could plausibly have had full effect, suggesting market and disease dynamics were decisive [1] [2].
5. Political claims and fact-check verdicts
President Trump and his spokespeople have credited the administration’s actions with driving egg prices down; fact-checkers and journalism outlets classify such claims as misleading or only partially true because they typically rely on wholesale figures, ignore timing, or overstate the magnitude [8] [3] [4]. CNN, FactCheck, Poynter and PolitiFact emphasize that while prices did fall during his early months in office, the causes are mixed and not solely attributable to immediate policy moves [9] [8] [2] [3].
6. Broader grocery-price context and competing interpretations
Even as eggs fell in some months, broader grocery-price metrics showed mixed results: some CPI groupings — including meats, poultry and eggs as an aggregated group — were up over certain intervals in 2025, and many reporting outlets note that other staples stayed high or rose, complicating any simple "grocery prices are down" claim [10]. CNN and The Hill point to administration trade and labor policies as potential contributors to price trends, while agricultural groups praised targeted flu-response steps; these conflicting interpretations reflect political incentives to credit or blame the sitting president [10] [6] [11].
7. What reporting does not settle (limitations and open questions)
Available sources do not offer consensus that a single policy action by the Trump administration was the primary cause of the retail declines; many pieces note that wholesale declines preceded policy implementation and that retail lags and seasonal dynamics matter [1] [2] [3]. Also, long-term retail normalization timing and regional price differences are noted but not fully resolved in the cited coverage [7] [5].
Bottom line: data and fact-checkers agree egg prices were high when Trump returned to office, wholesale egg prices fell sharply in spring 2025, and retail prices declined more slowly — but the dominant proximate cause for the spike and the initial subsequent fall cited across reporting was the avian influenza outbreak and market adjustments, not a single presidential action [1] [2] [3].