How prices at a Salt Lake grocer changed since Trump's "Liberation Day"
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Apple prices in April 2025, left, and 2026. Photo: Erin Alberty/Axios
In the year since President Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs, prices on consumer goods have generally gone up.
State of play: On April 8, 2025 — the day before the biggest tariff spikes took effect — we visited a neighborhood Macey's grocery to document prices on 55 items, ranging from Grey Poupon mustard to kitty litter.
- We went back Thursday, on the anniversary of Trump's announcement of sweeping new tariffs.
- If items were on sale on either day, we compared the regular prices.
By the numbers: Prices rose for 33 of the items, fell for 11 and held steady for the rest.
Zoom in: Produce saw the biggest price jumps, with navel oranges and on-the-vine tomatoes up more than 75%. Cosmic Crisp apples were up more than 30%.
- Ghirardelli chocolate bars, Oscar Mayer Wieners and bakery-made cupcakes were all up more than 25%.
The other side: Prices on eggs, famously high a year ago, have dropped precipitously.
- Jif creamy peanut butter cost more than 40% less than last year, and avocados were down about 10%.
Caveat: Trade policy isn't the only factor influencing your grocery bill.
- Egg prices, for example, were pushed up last year due to a wave of avian flu.
The big picture: In the past year, Trump's initial wall of tariffs has been torn down by the court, watered down by exemptions and scaled back under trade agreements, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.
Catch up quick: The effective tariff rate — a measure of how much the U.S. actually collects in duties as a share of total imports — started 2025 around 2%, a level that had been roughly stable for years.
- Tariffs spiked to the highest in a century after Trump took office, ultimately peaking at 21% in the days following "Liberation Day."
- The rate now sits at 11%.
What's next: The war in Iran is expected to drive inflation in the U.S. as energy costs rise.