Gas
prices aren’t the only item inflicting financial strain on Americans ahead of Memorial Day. For families firing up the grill, that ground beef will have a higher price tag attached to it. The national average for a pound of ground beef stands at a record high of $6.90, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Lower cattle supply coupled with robust demand caused prices to skyrocket over the past five years. Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, ground beef prices have climbed by 24%.
That creates a political challenge as beef remains central to the American diet.The Trump administration has struggled to tame price increases in beef, a staple of the American diet. The U.S. government is encouraging Americans to become more like
carnivores: Beef is now on top of the food pyramid following an overhaul of federal dietary guidelines at the Department of Health and Human Services. Even Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he eats beef “twice a day.”
The U.S. appetite for beef is enormous. Americans devoured $45 billion worth of beef last year, per research from Beef Research, an industry marketing group. The figure also helps explain why rising beef prices carry political weight.
Trump himself has acknowledged the challenges. In November, he said beef prices were “a little high” in a Fox News interview. The White House won’t find price relief in the meat market anytime soon. The Department of Agriculture recently projected beef prices will increase 6.3% in 2026, a figure outpacing its 20-year historical growth rates.
The Trump administration has taken steps to address what some economists are labeling “beeflation.” It announced a deal with Beijing to reopen the Chinese market to U.S. beef exports, which administration officials argue will encourage ranchers to grow their cattle herds — now at historic lows — to meet new demand.
“The Trump administration is committed to
reducing beef and other grocery costs for hardworking Americans,” a White House official said in a statement. “The Administration’s astonishing success in reducing egg prices by cleaning up the Biden administration’s failures is proof that President Trump has a track record of success in delivering.”
The USDA indeed projected that Americans will catch a break as egg prices continue dropping this year. That’s largely due to a less intense avian influenza combined with increased egg
production. | 
