by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The White House on March 17 announced a drop in egg and gasoline prices, calling it a win for the Trump administration’s economic agenda.
“Americans are continuing to see the benefits as the economic agenda of President Donald J. Trump and his administration comes into focus,” the White House press office said in a statement.
The average wholesale price per dozen of eggs has dropped to $3.10, down 47 percent from $6.55 per dozen from Jan. 21, 2025, the White House said.
Egg prices soared in recent months, reaching an average high of $4.95 per dozen in January, according to the Department of Labor. From January 2024 to January 2025, egg prices increased by 54 percent, data show.
A primary reason for the skyrocketing prices is avian influenza, which has led to the culling of tens of millions of egg-laying hens in recent months.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last month that more than 23 million birds were culled in January to contain the virus, which followed the winnowing of more than 18 million in December 2024.
Several weeks ago, the USDA warned that egg prices could jump by more than 40 percent in 2025, with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins noting that it would take some time before consumers would see an effect at the checkout counter.
It takes months for infected farms to dispose of the carcasses, sanitize their farms, and raise new birds, she said, while expressing optimism that the plan will help prices.
“It’s going to take a while to get through, I think in the next month or two, but hopefully by summer,” Rollins said.
The USDA has enough staff to respond to bird flu despite the recent cuts to the federal workforce, Rollins said.
“Will we have the resources needed to address the plan I just laid out? We are convinced that we will,” she said, “as we realign and evaluate where USDA has been spending money, where our employees are spending their time.”
Aside from egg prices, the Trump administration on Monday said that gasoline prices have also dropped in recent weeks.
“The nationwide average for gas has declined for four straight weeks—down ten cents from one month ago and 42 cents from one year ago,” the statement said, pointing to data showing that the average for a gallon of gas is $2.99 or less at more than two-thirds of all stations.
The Trump administration has faced some blowback in recent days over its economic polices, particularly tariffs, and declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq.
When asked about the stock market index declines and tariffs, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview over the weekend that the markets are entering correction territory. He also said that the administration’s policies are designed to stave off a broader economic decline, but he did not rule out a recession.
“There’s no reason that it has to [go into a recession],“ he said in response to an NBC News moderator’s question. ”But I can tell you that if we’d kept on this track, what I could guarantee is we would have had a financial crisis. I’ve studied it. I’ve taught it.
“And if we had kept up at these spending levels, that everything was unsustainable. We are resetting and we are putting things on a sustainable path.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-house-hails-recent-drops-egg-and-gas-prices
