U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he’s recently brought down the price of eggs in America, which have reached record highs amid an outbreak of bird flu in laying hens that led to a severe egg shortage.
On Monday, Trump even turned the L.A. Dodgers’ White House visit into an opportunity to praise himself and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, claiming “eggs are down 73 per cent,” as the baseball team behind him clapped politely.
And on so-called Liberation Day on April 2, as Trump announced sweeping global tariffs, he claimed Rollins brought down egg prices by more than half “once we got involved.”
“They were going through the sky, the egg prices,” Trump said in his address. “Now we have lots of eggs and they’re much cheaper, down about 59 per cent now. And they’re going down further.”
But have they really? Turns out, when it comes to the price of eggs on store shelves, not so much.
U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high average of $6.23 US per dozen, or about $8.73 Cdn. That’s up from about $5.90 US per dozen in February, and about $4.95 in January.
By comparison, Canada’s average retail price for a dozen eggs in February was $4.91 (or around $3.50 US), according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada — roughly 40 per cent cheaper than if you bought them south of the border.
The U.S. increase was reported Thursday in the Consumer Price Index. Overall, the index for food increased 0.4 per cent in March, which includes a 5.9 per cent increase in the index for eggs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the last 12 months, the index for eggs increased by 60.4 per cent.
This means consumers and businesses that rely on eggs might not get much immediate relief. Demand for eggs is typically elevated until after Easter, which falls on April 20.
And in response, on some social media platforms, a familiar refrain based on a viral meme echoed: Trump take egg. The pithy statement has been used online by frustrated U.S. consumers as they share photos, videos and stories showing rising prices or empty store shelves.
“Trump take more egg,” wrote one user on Bluesky, linking to a story about March’s price increase.
“Trump take egg (redux),” wrote another.
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The U.S. market had been starting to show signs of improvement, with wholesale prices for eggs starting to decrease, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly egg markets overviews.
“The supply situation at grocery outlets has greatly improved in recent weeks, and consumers are once again seeing fully stocked shelves and enjoying a range of choices without purchase restrictions,” noted the most recent report from April 4.
And in its daily National Shell Egg Index Report, the USDA said that national average egg weighted prices are “steady to lower.”
University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson told The Associated Press the wholesale prices did not start dropping until mid-March, so there may not have been enough time for the average price for the month to decline, even though prices started to fall at the end of the month. And grocery stores may not have immediately passed on the lower prices.
“I think there are lots of people who are looking to see the egg prices coming down because they wanted to call it a win. And I think it’s a loss for everybody. I think we all want to see egg prices come down,” Thompson said.
Prices in the U.S. vary greatly by location, depending on the location of recent bird flu outbreaks and some state laws requiring eggs to be cage-free.
At a Safeway in downtown San Francisco on Thursday, cage-free eggs were $9.99 US per dozen. At a Safeway in Denver, the same cage-free eggs were $6.69 US per dozen. And at a Safeway in Washington, D.C., which doesn’t require eggs to be cage-free, a dozen eggs were $5.29 US. In Omaha, Neb., Walmart is selling eggs for $4.97 US per dozen.
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The March price increase also happened before Trump escalated tariffs in April (which he has since temporarily paused).
The U.S. government had been looking to Europe to find new exporters. Last week, Rollins told Fox Business that Trump’s sweeping tariffs could be applied to eggs.
But speaking outside the White House Thursday, Rollins said, “the markets are beginning to adjust.”
“The wholesale prices of eggs have gone way down,” she told reporters. “We’ve said all along the retail prices will just take a little longer to catch up.”
She added that the “Super Bowl of eggs,” Easter, is coming up, which “I’ve said all along is sort of that high price for retail for eggs. But we feel very confident that will continue to come back down.”
And with Easter around the corner, the White House recently announced that it will continue to use real eggs for its annual Easter Egg Roll despite the high prices. Egg farmers typically donate more than 30,000 eggs for the event.
“They were saying that for Easter, ‘Please don’t use eggs. Could you use plastic eggs?’ I say, ‘We don’t want to do that,'” Trump said in remarks on April 2, according to NBC.
In a statement last month, the American Egg Board confirmed it was planning to continue with the tradition, explaining that “it will not create additional strain on the nation’s egg supply or egg prices,” with the 2,500 eggs it plans to donate.
There are several online petitions currently circulating asking Trump to reconsider.
“While American families are unable to afford basic necessities, it is cruel to use 30,000 real eggs for fun,” notes the description on a petition on Change.Org.
