Major newspapers and newswires ignored a Trump idea guaranteed to raise food prices

"We recently had a Presidential candidate propose perhaps the worst economic policy idea of modern times, and the idea was so bad that the media simply ignored it." - Justin Wolfers

https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/major-newspapers-and-newswires-ignored-trump-idea-guaranteed-raise-food-prices

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published 09/18/24 12:32 PM EDT

Major newspapers and newswires failed to report that at a September 17 campaign event in Michigan, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed reducing food imports in response to a question about how he’d reduce food costs, claiming that “our farmers are being decimated.” Several economists explained the obvious point that reducing the supply of food by restricting imports would actively increase food prices.

During the town hall, an audience member asked Trump how he would “bring down the cost of food and groceries.” After Trump rambled about unrelated energy prices and Federal Reserve interest rates, he responded:

“We gotta work with our farmers. Our farmers are being decimated right now. They’re being absolutely, absolutely decimated. And you know, one of the reasons is we allow a lot of farm product into our country. We’re gonna have to be a little bit like other countries. We’re not gonna allow so much come — we’re gonna let our farmers go to work.”

Several economists were quick to point out that this would not reduce food prices. In fact, it would raise them.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-times/major-newspapers-and-newswires-ignored-trump-idea-guaranteed-raise-food-prices