Did Trump really bring down the price of eggs by half?

“They were going done the sky, the ovum prices. They were going done the sky, and you did a fantastic job,” helium told Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who was sitting successful the audience.

Coming successful the mediate of a code astir commercialized protectionism, it was a somewhat ironic aside: Much of Rollins’ effort has, successful fact, progressive importing little costly eggs from countries present facing higher tariffs successful bid to easiness the home proviso crunch that sent market store prices soaring.

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In February, Rollins announced a $1 cardinal enactment program for bringing ovum costs nether control, which mostly consisted of longer-term argumentation initiatives aimed astatine combating the avian flu that has decimated hen flocks. Those included caller biosecurity measures, specified arsenic sending retired epidemiologists to counsel farmers connected illness risks astatine their farms; exploring caller vertebrate vaccines; and removing regulatory burdens that hinder ovum production.

Rollins’ main short-term move, however, was to statesman importing much eggs connected a impermanent basis. In precocious March, Rollins announced that the medication would statesman purchases from South Korea and Turkey. Polish and Lithuanian officials besides said they had been approached by the administration.

“We are talking successful the hundreds of millions of eggs for the abbreviated term,” Rollins said. “And past erstwhile our chickenhearted populations are repopulated, and we’ve got a afloat egg-laying manufacture going again — hopefully successful a mates of months — we past displacement backmost to our interior ovum layers and moving those eggs retired onto the shelf.”

During his speech, Trump said that prices had travel down by much than half, acknowledgment to Rollins’ work. That mightiness lone beryllium fractional true, according to experts.

Since the archetypal week of March, the wholesale outgo of achromatic eggs has travel down by astir 56% to $3 a dozen, according to the Department of Agriculture’s play data. However, the driblet apt has little to bash with the administration’s enactment than with a alteration successful request from consumers who’ve been stung by the steep terms of an omelette, said David Anderson, a prof of cultivation economics astatine Texas A&M University.

“I deliberation the administration’s efforts connected the ovum beforehand are bully moves,” helium said. “But I deliberation they are much semipermanent boosts successful nature.”