President Donald Trump’s trade war is affecting Americans from the grocery store to electric bills, with the cost of bananas, ground beef and electricity surging to all-time highs, according to the latest data from the Consumer Price Index.

Major U.S. retailers have announced price hikes as a result of tariffs, and the cost of a handful of everyday goods and services has increased by 5% to 10% since Trump took office.

But not all consumer products are trending up. Since December, the average nationwide cost of bread, milk and tomatoes has dropped, and the price of chicken and oranges has stayed much the same with the change of administrations.

The Tribune is tracking 11 everyday costs for Americans — eggs, milk, bread, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, chicken, ground beef, gasoline, electricity and natural gas — and how they are changing, or not, during Trump’s second term. This tracker is updated monthly using CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Eggs

Egg prices dropped for a second straight month in May, falling 57 cents from March’s record high.

According to the latest data, the average cost of a dozen large Grade A eggs is $4.55 nationwide — tumbling below the $5 mark for the first time since January.

The decline in egg prices is likely due to a decrease in bird flu cases in commercial and backyard flocks since the start of the year. In the first two months of 2025, 12.6 to 23.2 million birds were affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In March, that number was 2.1 million, and as of April, the virus was detected in only 1 million U.S. birds.

Though still significantly lower than the number reported in January and February, cases surged again in May, with 5.2 million birds affected — the vast majority concentrated in three commercial flocks in Arizona. This uptick in cases could indicate another small jump in prices during the summer months.

Currently, the cost of eggs is about 9.6% higher than before Trump took office.

Milk

It’s not just poultry flocks and wild birds that have been affected by bird flu. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus has been reported in dairy cows since March 2024, and just last month, there were 24 new confirmed cases at dairy farms in Idaho, Texas and Arizona.

But while avian flu cases are ticking up again in poultry, they’re declining in cattle, with the number of newly infected dairy cows just half of that reported in April.

As a result, the cost of milk is down month-over-month, but a look at the year-over-year change is a bit different: Prices are up more than 4%.

As of May, a gallon of fresh, fortified whole milk would set you back about $4.02.

Bread

As of May, white bread cost $1.88 per pound. That price is slightly lower than it was when Trump started his second term and about 10 cents less than it was 12 months ago.

Bananas

Shoppers can expect to pay more for their next bunch of bananas. The staple fruit cost a record-breaking $0.66 per pound in May.

The price jumped 2 cents compared with April — the single-biggest month-over-month increase going back to January 2021.

This sudden spike is likely due to Trump’s trade war, with tariffs levied against the country’s top banana importers like Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico.

Oranges

Orange prices are up 5% from the previous month. This change, however, likely has little to do with the current administration.

Like many citrus fruits, the cost of oranges is heavily tied to the harvesting season. As we exit orange season, supplies will decrease, coinciding with an increase in demand, thus triggering higher prices. This is standard for the fruit market, with oranges cheapest in the winter months, then increasing in cost throughout the late spring and summer and eventually peaking in September or October each year.

Currently, the average price per pound for navel oranges is $1.56 nationwide.

Tomatoes

Though perhaps not the first thing you think of when you hear the term “staple food,” tomatoes are an essential ingredient in all kinds of dishes, from pasta and pizza, to soups, salads and BLT sandwiches.

In May, the average price of field-grown tomatoes was approximately $1.71 per pound. That cost is about 8 cents lower than it was in April and down roughly 17% since Trump took power.

This decrease, however, is largely due to the growing season. Like oranges, tomato prices vary depending on the time of year, rising in the fall, peaking in the early winter months and then plummeting in the spring.

Still, prices are down a little more than 8% from this time last year.

Chicken

Chicken is another consumer product that’s seen a price spike as a result of bird flu — though not nearly as drastically as eggs. One reason? Significantly more egg-laying hens have been culled than chickens raised for meat.

The national average crested above $2 per pound for fresh, whole chicken for the first time last year and hit a record high of $2.08 in November. Since then, the average price has been roughly the same. According to May CPI figures, chicken is $2.06 per pound.

Ground Beef

Ground beef prices continue to trend up, up and up.

For the fourth-consecutive month, the cost of beef hit an all-time high, with the average price of 100% ground beef chuck now $6.02 per pound.

The rising cost can be attributed to a number of factors. In addition to several ground beef recalls reported in recent months, the U.S. cattle inventory is at a 25-year low, and severe drought in parts of the country has further reduced the feed supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More recently, in trade talks with the U.S., the United Kingdom agreed to buy more American beef, a deal that the president says will lead to greater exports. But as China and the European Union’s tariffs on beef and other U.S. farm exports remain, this may not be the last time we see record prices this year.

Perhaps 2025 is the year to give vegetarianism a try?

Electricity

In May, the average price of electricity nationwide was 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. That average has held more or less the same since this time last year, with the typical month-over-month changes registering at less than a fraction of a cent.

Even so, the current cost of electricity is the highest on record — going back more than 45 years.

Gasoline

The price at the pump fell slightly month-over-month — dropping 2 cents from April to May.

At $3.31 per gallon of regular unleaded, gasoline costs about 5% more than it did during the last month of the administration of President Joe Biden. Year-over-year, however, prices have declined by roughly 12%.

In Chicago, gas is about 11 cents higher than the nationwide average, sitting at $3.42 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Natural Gas

The cost of piped utility gas, or natural gas, saw no change month-over-month, averaging at $1.63 per therm.

The price is holding at a two-year high and is up nearly 7% under the Trump administration.

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