Speaking to his supporters in Mount Airy Casino, Pennsylvania, President Trump declared the issue of affordability is a “hoax”. As usual his mistakes are supposedly not his own fault, but the fault of his political opponents.
During the 2024 elections, President Donald Trump, ran on the promise to “Make America Healthy Again” by lowering food prices, making nutritious foods more available, and ending the corporate grip on food.
If affordability is a hoax, how does one explain that large sections of the American working class are suffering more than ever from low wages, rising unemployment, high cost of living, and corporate greed in the food industry?
As of December 2025 his campaign promises for affordability have completely collapsed. Grocery prices have not gone down and have actually increased. This increase has been partially due to Trump’s erratic tariff policies against countries that have been traditional trading partners.
Tariffs have caused the increase of prices for multiple foods including but not limited to, staple foods such as meat, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Tariffs have also caused the increase in prices for fertilizers primarily used in agriculture as well as feed for livestock here in the United States, causing farmers to raise their domestic food prices.
Directly connected to affordability is the access, or lack thereof, to nutritious food. Overwhelming research and evidence shows a significant racial and gender disparity in food security due to systemic economic discrimination. This is exacerbated by lack of quality public transportation services to reach grocery stores and poor zoning laws that overly benefit convenience stores and fast food restaurants. This has directly led to the creation of “food deserts”, communities with little to no access to nutritious foods, and “food swamps”, communities where unhealthy foods are the only affordable option.
These issues of food affordability and access to nutritious foods are two sides of the same coin. Such policies inevitably result in a national health crisis.
by Samuel Gomes Rodrigues Jr.
Retrieved from Trump, Tariffs, and Food Cost – acnhs.org
A “lack of quality public transportation services … and poor zoning laws” have been on my mind very frequently in the past few days.