We are just over a month into 2025, and less than three weeks into President Donald Trump's second term.
We wanted to find out if the prices we pay for everyday goods are getting any cheaper. If not, when will prices start to fall?
On the campaign trail President Trump vowed to lower grocery and energy prices when he took office. During an August campaign speech in Bedminster, New Jersey, then candidate Trump said, "when I win, I will immediately bring prices down."
Now, tariffs could cause inflation to worsen.
Where prices are now
In some major categories, prices have steadied and, in other cases, dropped.
For example, the average price for a gallon of gas Wednesday was $3.13, according to the auto club AAA. A year ago, a gallon of gas averaged $3.15. But one month ago, the average price was $3.06 per gallon.
Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate, describes these price jumps as "murky."
"Gas prices are lower now than they were a year ago, but they're higher than they were a month ago. So, it's like, 'which one is it?'," he said.
Rossman points to deflation in many physical goods categories, "It's a better time to buy a TV or a computer now than it was three or four years ago," he said.
But he adds housing and insurance rates have remained persistent problems when it comes to bringing costs down.
"If we make this bipartisan and look back to the last administration," Rossman said, "if it was easy enough to wave a magic wand and bring inflation down, they would have already done that."
In its food price outlook, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts food-at-home prices, or prices paid at the grocery store, will increase by 1.3%.
The increases include the price of beef and veal, expected to increase 1.5% this year, and dairy prices, expected to increase 1.3% in 2025.
Then, of course, there are eggs.
Eggs in a world of their own
You can't talk about price hikes without talking about the price of eggs, although egg prices are up for very different reasons.
"A year ago, we had egg prices at about $2.19 per dozen," said David Anderson, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University. "Last week in the wholesale market around the country, we had eggs at $5.99 per dozen. So, it's almost a tripling of egg prices."
Avian influenza, or bird flu, has driven egg prices higher because it has slashed supplies, and there are few alternatives to an egg.
"Powdered or egg whites or egg yolks or whatever, it all starts with an egg," Anderson said.
The skyrocketing price has impacted consumers and business owners alike.
"We run off eggs pretty much. It is our gasoline," said cafe owner Charlie Hughes. "We probably crack 4,000 eggs a week, so when they double and then triple, it is a pretty big, big impact on the business."
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Where prices go from here
Katie Wonnenberg is a small business advocate, political strategist, and a principal with Public Private Strategies. She said factors such as the threat of tariffs and bird flu are contributing to a sense of unease.
"There's a lot of things that are causing chaos and then layered on top of what is happening here at the federal government," Wonnenberg explained, "I think it's just making consumers skittish."
She said the new China tariffs, and threat of additional tariffs, have put added pressure on small business owners.
"The tariffs, or the threat of tariffs, cause a lot of people to pause," she said, "to either not make purchases or maybe plan for a longer, extended period of time."
In the end, Rossman said there is only so much a president can do to lower prices. He said it is mostly the Federal Reserve that holds the tools to fight inflation by raising interest rates.
"It's just taking a little longer than people hoped," Rossman said, "but I do think tariffs could throw a major wrench into the plan."
While tariffs forced some businesses "to make some pretty aggressive moves" at the end of last year, Wonnenberg reminds consumers that many global prices are set months in advance.
"It's like a very slow-moving cruise ship," she said. "It's an unrealistic expectation that, you know, all of a sudden everything was going to change on a dime."
