Trump promised to lower egg prices on ‘day one.' Now his administration admits there's no ‘silver bullet'
During the campaign, President Donald Trump pledged to bring grocery and egg prices on 'day one.' Now, his top agriculture rep says there is no 'silver bullet' to eradicate the disease killing chickens and leading to the spike.
'This five-point strategy won't erase the problem overnight, but we're confident that it will restore stability to the egg market over the next three to six months. This approach will also ensure stability over the next four years and beyond,' Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.
The plan includes providing $500 million to expand biosecurity, increasing relief to aid farmers to the tune of $400 million, removing 'regulatory burdens' on the industry, exploring vaccine strategies for chickens and even having eggs sent here from abroad.
The president and administration officials have continuously pinned most of the blame for consumer woes and the U.S. response on the Biden administration, saying that they hadn't taken the issue 'seriously.'
Now, experts are warning that egg prices will continue to go up - to the tune of a 40 percent jump in 2025.
In January, retail egg prices rose by 13.8 percent, according to recent Agriculture Department data. Egg prices this January were 53 percent higher than last January. Restaurants have started to add surcharges to egg dishes. Now, some Democratic lawmakers are calling for federal regulators to investigate the industry.
The price has been driven by the killing of chickens in response to bird flu. As the disease is traced and found in flocks, they are slaughtered to slow the spread. More than 166 million chickens have been killed during the three-year outbreak, officials said.
Former President Joe Biden's administration launched the National Milk Testing Strategy, that has helped to trace the spread of bird flu in cows, tested unpasteurized milk and cheese and devoted more money and resources to the issue at the end of last year. States have continued to join the testing strategy during the first weeks of the Trump administration.
'There is no short-term fix. If there were, it would have been addressed under the last administration,' Rollins told CBS News earlier in the week.
The secretary said Trump had made the issue a priority 'from minute one,' and that they would work to repopulate following the culling of millions of chickens exposed to the virus. She would not say which countries could be involved in importing eggs to the U.S.
One of the regulations Rollins specifically mentioned is California's Proposition 12, which requires egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and veal calves to be housed in systems that comply with specific standards for freedom of movement, cage-free design and floor space. In a win for the animal protection movement, the regulation was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023. Rollins said that it's caused egg prices to go up - although how much remains a subject of debate.
She said prices should start to come down 'maybe later this spring, this summer.' But not until they increase some more. An uptick would occur until Easter, which she said is normal considering the demand for eggs over the holiday weekend.
Rollins said Americans just need to hold on.
'The American taxpayers, American consumers, and American poultry farmers have relief coming right around the corner,' Rollins told Fox News's Dana Perino.
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