For reasons that have never been altogether clear, Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he’s successfully lowered the price of groceries. American consumers know better, and their perceptions are bolstered by real-world data. The Hill reported last week, “Federal inflation data confirms what you may have been feeling already: Groceries are getting more expensive. Unfortunately, things may be about to get a whole lot worse, economists are warning.”
A few days later, a national CNN poll found that 61% of Americans said they’ve had to cut back on groceries due to price concerns.
The good news is, the White House is at least showing an interest in the subject. The bad news is, the Republican administration’s new fix to help consumers is a bad idea. The Associated Press reported:
The Trump administration on Thursday loosened federal rules requiring grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cooling equipment, a step that President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs.
Trump said at a White House ceremony that the action by the Environmental Protection Agency would “substantially lower costs for consumers” by delaying costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.
For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that the incumbent president said restrictions on the chemical compounds used in air conditioners and refrigerators were part of “Biden’s disastrous regulatory policies,” despite the inconvenient fact that they were established by a law (called the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act) that Trump signed during his first term.
Let’s also briefly note that the whole point of that law Trump signed in 2020 was to phase out chemical compounds that are often referred to as “super pollutants” because of their enormous effect in driving the climate crisis. The White House’s policy, in other words, is rooted in the idea that it’s more important to lower prices in the short term, even if it does lasting (and costly) damage to the planet going forward.
But as important as these elements are, there’s an even more obvious problem with the president’s new strategy: It isn’t going to work.
The New York Times reported that market analysts agreed that the administration’s move is likely to have little impact on prices, “which are elevated because of tariffs, extreme weather and soaring fuel prices since the start of the conflict in Iran.”
The article quoted David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, who said, “This move is highly unlikely to produce any noticeable reduction in grocery prices for consumers. We’re talking about refrigeration, and that’s a very small share of the overall cost of food.”
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How small is “very small”? A NOTUS report pointed to per-customer savings of roughly $2 a year.
That’s not $2 per visit to the grocery store, that’s $2 per year — which works out to roughly 4 cents per week.
I’m mindful of the idea that every little bit helps, but c’mon.
The AP article added that according to industry groups, Trump’s move “could even raise prices because manufacturers have already redesigned products, retooled factories and trained workers to build and service next-generation refrigerant equipment.”
At his White House event, the president declared that he was taking “a very historic action to substantially lower costs for consumers.” I have bad news for those who believe him.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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