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inflation
'July 4th BBQ Burn’: Reports Pin Blame for Sky-High Cookout Prices on Trump Policies
"Thanks to Trump’s tariffs and foreign wars, Americans won’t find any independence from inflation this Fourth of July.”
02 Jul, 2026
Having a July 4 barbecue will be significantly more expensive this year than it was a year ago, and two reports say President Donald Trump's policies are at least partly to blame.
In an analysis published Wednesday, the American Economic Liberties Project faulted Trump for not taking on the corporate concentration in the meatpacking industry, which the group argued was the single biggest contributor to a "July 4th BBQ burn" that will see Americans pay record prices for ground beef.
The report finds that even though Trump has tried to cut prices by lowering his tariffs to increase the supply of imported beef, they have not fallen due to the meatpacking oligopoly's power to keep prices high regardless of input costs.
In fact, the report says that prices have gone up by an additional 2% since Trump exempted beef imports from his tariffs last November.
The real problem, the report contends, is that just four companies process 85% of US beef, giving them enormous leverage over what consumers pay for the final product.
Even though three of these four firms have paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle price-fixing allegations, the report adds, none of them have been broken up.
Lori Wallach, director of the American Economic Liberties Project's Rethink Trade program, said the president's unwillingness to take on corporate power was hurting both consumers and cattle ranchers.
"Responding to a corporate-monopoly-driven price crisis with trade tools has caused a double whammy," said Wallach. "No relief for American consumers, and record floods of imported beef threatening the livelihoods of the ranchers who supported Trump."
"To bring prices down," Wallach added, "the administration must break up the big four beef packers that dictate terms to consumers and ranchers alike."
Katie Hettinga, policy analyst at Rethink Trade and lead author of the report, said that until Trump "breaks the power of dominant meat packers and grocery chains to keep prices high, American consumers will suffer."
A separate analysis published Tuesday by Groundwork Collaborative and The Century Foundation spotlighted the high price of not just beef, but other July 4 staples as well.
In addition to the price of beef, which has gone up by over 20% in the last year, the report finds the prices of prepared potato salad (23% year-over-year increase), ice pops (22% increase), and strawberries (20% increase) have all seen substantial rises.
And it's not just food items, as the prices of disposable forks (20% year-over-year increase) and aluminum foil (18% increase) have gone up dramatically as well.
Lindsay Owens, executive director at Groundwork Collaborative, said that Trump's tariffs on foreign goods and his illegal war with Iran, which caused the price of fertilizer to spike, both contributed to the price spikes.
"As Americans fire up the grill this Fourth of July, they’ll feel the heat of summer price hikes," said Owens. "As popsicle prices spike and air conditioning bills skyrocket, working families will be forced to sweat in the face of high price tags. Thanks to Trump’s tariffs and foreign wars, Americans won’t find any independence from inflation this Fourth of July.”
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Jobs Report Offers 'Grim Warning Signs' for Cash-Strapped Working Families Under Trump
"Working Americans increasingly report that their paychecks can't keep up with Trump's high prices, but are not confident they’ll be able to find better opportunities," noted one Groundwork Collaborative expert.
02 Jul, 2026
As President Donald Trump's team on Thursday tried to paint the June jobs report as positive, economists and congressional Democrats called it "weak" and "disappointing," with some also ripping the Republican administration's harmful policies, from sweeping tariffs and the Iran War to the mass detention and deportation of immigrants.
The nation's economy added just 57,000 jobs in June, or roughly half of what economists had anticipated, according to the latest monthly report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS noted that "both the unemployment rate, at 4.2%, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.1 million, changed little in June."
The Department of Labor (DOL) agency also revised job gains down for May by 43,000 and April by 31,000, and said that "over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.5%." That's notably lower than the 4.2% annual inflation rate detailed by BLS a few weeks ago, as Americans struggle to afford groceries, housing, and other basic necessities during Trump's second term.
"Today's weak jobs numbers are grim warning signs of a struggling labor market," Alex Jacquez, a former Obama administration official who is now Groundwork Collaborative's chief of policy and advocacy, said in a statement.
"Job gains reflect temporary seasonal hires and other workers separated from the broader economy while the majority of the labor force is frozen," he explained. "Working Americans increasingly report that their paychecks can't keep up with Trump's high prices, but are not confident they'll be able to find better opportunities. They're instead focused on trying to keep up with the president's price hikes."
Angela Hanks, a former DOL senior official who's now chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, similarly called the report "yet more evidence of a fragile economy under President Trump, with job growth coming in well below expectations and sizable downward revisions to the last two months."
"While the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.2%, this number only tells us how many people are working—it doesn't tell you whether people can afford to live," she stressed. "The reality behind today's jobs numbers is that the cost of living continues to outpace paychecks: 43% of Americans now say they're worse off financially than they were a year ago, and year-over-year wage growth came in at 3.5%, below overall inflation of 4.2%—meaning that real wages are falling."
"Looking beyond the topline numbers, more than half of all June job growth was concentrated in healthcare and social assistance, continuing a trend of these sectors propping up much of our economy," she pointed out. "The labor force participation rate declined sharply and widely, with nearly every demographic group seeing declines, which partially explains the drop in the unemployment rate. Moreover, certain racial and age disparities actually worsened: Black youth unemployment rate rose to a whopping 26.8%, as did Hispanic youth unemployment, coming in at 20.1%—a reminder that this economy is not delivering for workers who are struggling the most."
Hanks added that “while Trump will surely tout this moderate job growth as a win, not long ago numbers like today's would have prompted serious concern. But families aren't grading Trump on a curve: They feel the impacts of this administration's chaotic and costly economic policies every day. Until working people can actually afford their lives—groceries, housing, healthcare, childcare—claims of a 'strong economy' will continue to ring hollow."
In line with Hanks' prediction, Trump's messengers attempted to frame the figures positively, with his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, celebrating the declining foreign-born labor force amid the administration's deadly crackdown on immigrants, and her deputy, Kush Desai, claiming the report "reinforces that the American labor market remains solid."
Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling—whom the president earlier this week nominated for the permanent post—said that "Trump's America first agenda continues to provide greater wages for workers and certainty to the sectors which will fuel the next 250 years of US economic security."
Meanwhile, with the midterm elections just four months away, the Democratic National Committee's rapid response director, Kendall Witmer, declared that "Donald Trump's failed economic agenda has driven working families into a corner as Americans worry about how to find a job and keep up with sky-high prices. The reality for working families is undeniable: Trump has wrecked the economy, leaving millions wondering how they will make ends meet with no relief in sight."
"But Trump doesn't give a shit—he's only focused on building his vanity projects and using the power of the presidency to get even richer," added Witmer, just two days after the president's annual financial disclosures revealed that he pocketed an unprecedented $2.2 billion—over half of it from his family’s cryptocurrency grift—during his first year back in the Oval Office.
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) took to social media over "another disappointing jobs report" and also called out GOP priorities, from erecting a giant arch in Trump's honor to putting his name on various items, including passports and the $250 bill.
As Lieu concluded, "November is coming."
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Republican Suggests Americans Who Can’t Afford Steak and Lobster for July 4th ‘Don’t Work as Hard as I Do’
"Affordability?" said Rep. Troy Nehls. "What are you talking about?"
01 Jul, 2026
Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, a leading defender of President Donald Trump, didn't seem too concerned when asked on Tuesday about Americans' struggles to pay for food on the Fourth of July, saying they may just not work as hard as he does.
As Nehls (R-Texas) prepared to depart for the holiday recess, a pair of reporters—Pablo Manríquez of Meidas Touch and Julian Andreone of Drop Site News—caught him on the steps of the Capitol and asked how Republicans planned to address the high cost of living, which voters consistently say is their top concern entering midterm election season.
Manríquez asked Nehls how House Republicans planned to "make the case that you're fighting for affordability when you go back to your districts?"
Nehls responded: "Affordability? What are you talking about?"
Unprompted, he proceeded to brag about his plans for the holiday: "I'm gonna go there tomorrow. I'm gonna get me a couple of big lobster tails. I'm gonna get me some nice rib-eyes. I'm gonna sit in my backyard with my family and my neighbors, and we're going to be enjoying the Fourth, celebrating 250 years... celebrating the greatest president of my lifetime, Donald J. Trump."
According to the latest Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual inflation has surged to 4.2% after Trump's war with Iran caused energy costs to spike and prices to soar throughout the economy.
High inflation has affected the cost of many holiday staples. According to a report out Tuesday from the Groundwork Collaborative, the cost of ground beef has surged more than 20%, and Ball Park brand hot dogs have climbed 13% in price since last summer.
"Everybody understands, you're going to see a little increase in energy prices because of Iran," Nehls said Tuesday. "I mean, come on, people aren't stupid, you realize that when you have a conflict in Iran."
Though oil and gas companies are reportedly set to make an additional $700 billion this year on the backs of consumers beyond what they would have made without the war, Nehls credited Trump with taking on "price gouging." And though gas prices are still projected to remain elevated through the year's end despite a possible end to the war, he said the high costs were a "temporary issue."
Andreone then asked Nehls, "Do you think the 60% of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck can afford lobster tails and rib-eyes and all of that?"
"Maybe not," Nehls responded. "Maybe the 60% of Americans don't work as hard as I do, neither, I mean I don't know."
With Trump's approval rating on the economy in shambles—a record low 33% of American adults said they approve of his performance in an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll last week—Nehls' comments were perceived as yet another sign that Republicans were hopelessly out of touch with Americans' needs.
It was not the only one. At a time when more than three-quarters of Americans said the cost of housing was an important issue, Trump justified his refusal to sign a piece of bipartisan housing legislation on Monday by saying: "I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up."
Trump has previously described the concept of affordability as a Democratic "hoax" and said that when making decisions related to the Iran War, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation."
While Nehls is retiring and won't have to face voters' wrath in November, his tin-eared surf and turf boast could provide more ammunition to Democrats hammering on affordability as they hope to take back the House and Senate, in part by gaining ground in his home state of Texas.
Responding to the video of Nehls, journalist and commentator Mehdi Hasan said, "Democrats should turn this into an ad."
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