Fact check: Eggs are cheaper than when Trump returned to office. ‘Everything else’? Absolutely not
By Daniel Dale, Matt Stiles, CNN
(CNN) — Eggs have gotten much cheaper since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. But “everything else” too, as Trump claimed on Monday? Absolutely not. Far more prices have gone up since his second inauguration than have gone down.
Trump, facing widespread public discontent on the cost of living, has repeatedly pivoted to eggs when discussing broad affordability issues – and, on Monday, tried to make it sound as if the major reduction in egg prices has been mirrored by a similar reduction in all other prices. In a speech in Michigan, he said, “Now eggs are much lower than they were when we first started. And that’s true with everything else. And you’ll see how true it’s going to be after we get rid of the nuclear threat of Iran, which will be very quickly.”
In reality, federal Consumer Price Index figures on the prices of 332 products or product categories show that eggs – down 32.7% between January 2025 and June 2026 – are a distant outlier, not the norm.
Overall consumer prices were up 4.3% over the same period, so it’s obviously impossible that “everything” got “much lower.” But it’s striking to see just how much of a special case egg prices have been, as you can by exploring the interactive graphic below.
Food prices were up 4.2% overall between January 2025 and June 2026 (all pricing figures in this article are seasonally adjusted). Shelter was up 4.6% overall. Energy prices were up 13.1% overall, with electricity up 8.3% and gasoline up 15.2% despite a decline in gas prices last month that reversed this month.
Medical care services were up 4.9% overall. Apparel was up 4.5% overall. Tuition, other school fees and childcare were up 3.8% overall. Household furnishings and supplies were up 3% overall. New cars were up 0.9%, though new trucks were down 0.1% and used cars and trucks were down 2.9%.
Not a single other item on this Consumer Price Index list had a decline even half as big as eggs did. Only about one-sixth of the items on the list declined at all (including items and categories that overlapped, such as the “butter” item that is also included in the “butter and margarine” category). And eggs were unique even when looking only at grocery products.
Largely because of a bird flu outbreak, egg prices spiked in the fall of 2024 (under former President Joe Biden) and the first three months of 2025 (under Biden and Trump), then started falling toward normal levels in April 2025. With a smattering of exceptions, including some poultry products and dairy products, other grocery prices went up between January 2025 and June 2026.
Overall grocery prices, captured by the index’s “food at home” category, rose 3.4%. And prices increased in five of the index’s six overarching grocery categories, including the one that includes eggs: meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (up 3.6%); nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (up 5.2%); cereals and bakery products (up 3.1%); fruits and vegetables (up 5.2%); and “other food at home” (up 3%). Only the dairy and related products group was down – and very slightly, 0.1%.
Grocery products were among the items with the biggest increases of all. Lettuce was up 32.6%, coffee up 22.6%, and uncooked ground beef up 19.9% (among other beef products that saw spikes).
The-CNN-Wire
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