Food prices are rising at their fastest monthly pace since 2022, data showed.
President Donald Trump in recent days claimed progress in his administration’s effort to tackle rising food prices. “Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” Trump told an audience at the Detroit Economic Club, without citing evidence.
Hours earlier, however, fresh government data refuted Trump’s assertion, instead showing the largest monthly jump in food prices since 2022.
Overall price increases stand below the 3% rate recorded in January, the month Trump took office, but they have hovered nearby for the majority of the year. Meanwhile, the current inflation rate of 2.7% exceeds the Federal Reserve’s target level of 2%.
Trump’s tariff policy also played a role in the rise of food prices, some analysts said. They pointed especially to 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, which have pushed up can and other packaging costs.