Groceries are not old-fashioned.
For some reason, President Donald Trump appears fascinated with the word. It started back in August on the campaign trail, when he was working on his economic record and the high prices Americans were seeing on food.
He stood at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey in front of a display of Wonder Bread, Hunt’s ketchup, Hillshire Farms lunch meat, Maxwell House coffee, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Froot Loops and talked about what Americans couldn’t afford.
A box of Cheerios caught his attention. He hadn’t seen them in a long time, he said.
But on Wednesday, he brought the focus to food again in the midst of his post-stock-market-closing speech announcing a wide roll-out of tariffs against most of the world.
“An old-fashioned term that we use — groceries,” he said, seeming to roll the word around in his mouth, tasting it. “It’s such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term. Groceries. It says a bag with different things in it.”
Groceries aren’t a quaint idea for a billionaire’s or politician’s amusement. Cheerios aren’t a nostalgic throwback. Food is a necessity. Groceries are what keep families going. They are the breakfast you grab on the way out the door. They are the lunches your kids take to school. They are the dinners on the table at night.
And they cost more than they did before.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — a nonpartisan, nonpolitical, policy-neutral government agency tasked with giving “accurate and objective” economic data — consumer spending in February was up $87.8 billion. For food and beverages, that was an increase of $10 billion over January.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that won’t stop. In March, it predicted food costs would increase 3.2% in 2025.
The tariffs could change that.
Aside from the tariff impacts feared early on in the Trump administration for Mexican and Canadian products, like produce and maple syrup, the new announcement could hit hard. America imports most sugar. Staples like coffee and chocolate come from parts of the world with very different climates. We can’t just start growing bananas in Pennsylvania.
Placing tariffs on these products is different from placing tariffs on cars. While the cost of auto tariffs can be far-ranging because of how many businesses rely on them, that’s a game of increments in most cases. American households don’t buy cars every day. And with high prices, they are likely to try to stretch out buying a replacement as long as possible.
But groceries? That’s not an old-fashioned word. That’s a weekly trip to the store. The groceries have to be replenished. The kids have to be fed.
Groceries are more than “a bag with different things in it.” Groceries are the thing many families have already been stretching as far as they could. The tariffs mean that bag will have less in it.