If you wanted the cost of eggs to decrease during Donald Trump’s new presidency, we apologize in advance.
According to a new Department of Agriculture report, egg prices are projected to swell by 41.1% this year due to a bird flu outbreak that continues to devastate flocks. The agency also predicted all food prices would rise 3.4% in 2025.
This updated prediction is so alarming because it’s more than double the department’s forecast from just one month ago. As the Daily Kos reported earlier this month, a previous USDA prediction estimated that egg prices could rise by “as much as 20% this year.”
The federal agency noted that retail egg prices were already climbing. In January, retail egg prices surged by 13.8%, following an 8.4% price increase in December.
“Retail egg prices continue to experience volatile month-to-month changes due to an outbreak of [highly pathogenic avian influenza] that began in 2022,” the department said in its report. “HPAI contributes to elevated egg prices by reducing egg-layer flocks and egg production.”
The bird flu outbreak already has some restaurants feeling the pinch. Earlier this month, the beloved 24/7 breakfast chain Waffle House announced a 50-cent surcharge per egg.
In addition, major grocery chains like Costco and Trader Joe’s are limiting the number of cartons that customers can buy.
President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to deflect blame for rising prices. At one point, Trump even claimed inflation is “back” but wasn’t his fault. And on Wednesday, he spoke about rising egg prices in a strangely distant manner.
“Eggs are a disaster,” he said. “The secretary of agriculture is gonna be showing you a chart that's actually mind-boggling, what's happened, how low they were with us and how high they are now.”
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Trump: "Eggs are a disaster. The secretary of agriculture is gonna be showing you a chart that's actually mind-boggling, what's happened, how low they were with us and how high they are now." (Who does he think is president?)
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-02-26T16:50:37.080Z
But Trump certainly bears some responsibility for the price increases. After all, while he and other Republican candidates focused on rising prices last year, lowering prices hasn’t been a priority for the party since Trump took office. Instead, the GOP has been hard at work dismantling and defunding the health agencies that could help address the impacts of bird flu. And they’re finding the time to ensure billionaires get even more federal tax breaks.
But even if the president denies involvement in rising prices, there are consequences.
According to a price tracker published by CBS News, the cost of a dozen eggs has skyrocketed 219% since 2019.
Meanwhile, just last month, the average price for a dozen eggs hit a whopping $4.95, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up from $2.52 a year prior. In some places, a carton of a dozen eggs can cost over $7.
In a Wednesday op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins—a Trump appointee—outlined her version of a plan to lower egg prices. Despite falsely alleging that former President Joe Biden “did little to address” the bird flu outbreak, Rollins said the Agriculture Department under Trump “will invest up to $1 billion to curb this crisis and make eggs affordable again.”
To that end, Rollins said her agency would work with Elon Musk’s nightmarish team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to repurpose whatever money the commission claims to save, and reinvest it into “long-term solutions to avian flu.”
The USDA reported that the avian flu outbreak impacted nearly 19 million commercial egg-laying chickens in January 2025 alone, representing “the highest monthly total since the outbreak began in 2022,” according to the new report.
Sadly for consumers, it’s not just egg prices that are expected to rise over the coming year. the USDA expects beef and veal prices to increase (3.2%), along with prices of fats and oils (0.6%), fresh fruit (2.4%), nonalcoholic beverages (4.4%), pork (1.2%), and sugar and sweets (6.4%)
Poultry prices are predicted to experience no change on average in 2025, and Trump will surely take credit for this positive news while ignoring all the other negative developments occurring under his administration.
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