r/politics Nevada 2d ago

Soft Paywall ‘Sneakflation’: How Trump’s tariffs are gradually raising costs for American consumers

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/24/economy/us-tariffs-passthrough-consumers
713 Upvotes

80 comments sorted by

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96

u/OpenImagination9 2d ago

Gradually? You must not do grocery shopping.

36

u/Moonpile Maryland 2d ago

3.5 lb of 80/20 was running me about $14, suddenly it was $22+. Beef may be one of the harder hit items because of the whole Brazil thing, but everything is going up fast.

23

u/fence_sitter Florida 2d ago

Maine lobster is cheaper by the pound than ribeye.

Crazy times.

7

u/Moonpile Maryland 2d ago

Ironically, I was just in Maine last week, and had lobster for $8/lb. Granted that was on Little Deer Isle so right at the source.

3

u/thinkingahead 2d ago

Deer Isle is my favorite in the summer. Good for you for getting to visit

1

u/Moonpile Maryland 2d ago

It was a fantastic week of weather to visit. Just perfect the whole time.

2

u/YakiVegas Washington 2d ago

Which is crazy because I thought our beef exports were way down, too.

18

u/2stinkynugget 2d ago

A bag of Doritos is $6.99! Wtf? Corn and chemicals?

5

u/OpenImagination9 2d ago

I’m telling you … we’ve reduced our processed food consumption almost completely.

5

u/TheMunk 2d ago

If this is gradual I don’t want to know where it’s going.

4

u/CPOx 2d ago

Grocery shopping this morning hurt a little bit

173

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

32

u/fluteofski- 2d ago

Big beautiful inflation! Consumers came to me with tears in their eyes, saying thank you. Thank you sir for increasing our monthly expenses and tanking my buying power and affordability of goods.

12

u/bluegrassgazer Kentucky 2d ago edited 2d ago

And, sir, I just want to express what an honor it is to show my patriotism by paying more for goods, because it allows us to lower taxes on your billionaire friends, sir. What a time to be alive.

1

u/captaincanada84 Canada 2d ago

Did you say this with tears in your eyes?

5

u/Dauvis 2d ago

Trumpflation caused by Trump Tariff Tax Increases.

4

u/TheHomersapien Colorado 2d ago

That's the symptom. The cause is Trump bringing back the spoils system so that he can directly profit from the executive branch controlling the means of production.

But don't worry because we simply need to wait until early 2028, when Democrats will give us a few mealy mouthed feel good corporate candidates to choose from in the fall. Surely one of them will have a platform that includes how we "move on" from all of this.

1

u/AqueductMosaic 2d ago

Absolutely. If we can have Obamacare, why not Trumpflation?

84

u/Ok-Bunch2258 2d ago

All this chaos because 70+ million stupid people didn't want the smart brown lady.

21

u/happyherbbby 2d ago

If you believe the team of pathological liars didn't cheat, steal, and disenfranchise as many voters as possible to "win". If you can really consider it "winning" to silence votes.

I remember so many cases in the news at the time of States illegally removing people from voter rolls for all sorts of reasons they pulled out of their bungholes. Excuses excuses excuses is all it was.

19

u/JustAHoleSir96 2d ago

Don’t forget bomb threats and mail in ballots being burned/thrown away

-4

u/lurkmastersenpai 2d ago

Before Trump inflation didn’t even exist. Thank goodness the democrats care so much about the working class and housing and affordability. If you look at democrat run states you can afford a studio apartment and groceries and insurance on minimum wage it’s awesome everything is cheap there

1

u/elkaki123 2d ago

I sure love getting some delicious regressive taxes, nothing makes my day better than paying 100x proportionally than what the rich pays!

If you look at republican states, you really need to wonder wtf they even do with the money from their taxes, people barely have an education, infrastructure is non existent, infant mortality on third world levels, people salaries below even 15 a day, 0 cultural investment aside from performative bible buying from someone's company in government, etc, etc.

37

u/TintedApostle 2d ago

Gradually?

12

u/Vinral 2d ago

Right? Everything is way more expensive right now lol.

1

u/elegant-quokka 2d ago

Where’s that post from before the presidency with the price of stuff to check what prices are like after?

5

u/Riot1990 2d ago

In like half a year too. There's nothing gradual about it

41

u/AmbivalentFanatic 2d ago

Right after the sneakflation from all these fucking companies using covid as an excuse to shrink their product size and raise prices 35%.

Fuck capitalism. It's not working.

26

u/designer-paul 2d ago

a lot of people forget that it wasn't just covid that caused prices to go up it was Trump's first round of tariffs in 2018. For whatever reason people just didn't acknowledge that.

10

u/IntelligentStyle402 2d ago

It is definitely working for the elite wealthy.

-2

u/blinded-by-the-moon 2d ago

Problem is that the alternatives were even worse. We need to stop putting psychopaths into power

15

u/Migrant-With-MK47 2d ago

Yeah - if the tariffs do go away, prices won’t go down, ever.

Prices never went down after Covid was over.

5

u/Sovery_Simple 2d ago

Prices will go up under the banner of "We need to rebuild our stockpile of goods while the tariffs are gone, so that we can save you money in the future with lower prices!"

And the prices did go down after Covid was over in some cases, such as the case of one grocer chain being sued for price gauging after Covid had ended and losing during Biden's term. That was a nice couple of months of the old prices returning. We likely won't be seeing those prices ever again.

15

u/Tweedle_DeeDum 2d ago

Anyone that's been to a grocery store knows that it isn't being sneaky about it at all.

14

u/bleat_bleat_bleat 2d ago

They're giving away our taxes and retirement benefits to the billionaires, and then double taxing us with tariffs.

It's a war against the working class.

12

u/TheRealTayler 2d ago edited 2d ago

The beginning of a "Trumpcession" you might call it.

5

u/Normal_Attitude_5148 2d ago

Trumpression

3

u/YgramulTheMany 2d ago

Make America Great Depression

1

u/Normal_Attitude_5148 2d ago

Greatest Depression!

2

u/TheRealTayler 2d ago

"The greatest Trumpression ever seen in history, they're calling it!"

3

u/Normal_Attitude_5148 2d ago

People are coming up to me with tears in their eyes saying "Sir, this is the most brutal Trumpression I have ever faced. Never in my life did I think I would ever see a Trumpression this devastating"

10

u/SurroundTiny 2d ago

It won't be sneaky by Christmas. I suspect if Walmart has burned through it's cached goods the other retailers will not be far behind.

13

u/happyherbbby 2d ago

There's nothing sneaky about it and more of the same. These CEOs think they're untouchable until the numbers go down because people stop buying their garbage we probably don't need then they're scrambling for approval. Begging people to fund their grift.

6

u/crackasscrackuh 2d ago

"Some say it's the biggest inflation, even the best inflation ever. A man came up to me, weeping, saying, 'Thank you, Mr. President. This is the greatest inflation I've ever seen.' I'm making the country rich"

6

u/Next_Firefighter7605 2d ago

It’s about as sneaky as an elephant in tap shoes.

6

u/njman100 2d ago

And maga has no idea

4

u/TheRealTayler 2d ago

They love it! They love having to pay more in the name of "patriotism".

2

u/SinisterCroissant 2d ago edited 2d ago

Don’t forget sticking it to the libtards.

We really need a clever ad campaign targeted on Fox and OAN that make it seem that rural folks not voting somehow makes purple haired them/they atheist activists cry.

We might actually be able to roll back some of this bullshit

4

u/Individual_Respect90 2d ago

Yeah gradually. Bro my groceries are $100 more a month. Only thing down are eggs and they are still more expensive than when they spiked.

3

u/Cyndakill88 2d ago

CCCPNN trying to sane wash the economy disaster we e all seen coming for 8 months. But congrats republicans you beat woke

1

u/SurroundTiny 2d ago

How is an article about Trump's policies causing inflation 'sane washing'?

4

u/Cyndakill88 2d ago

The soft language, and not putting for accountability on the person causing it.

2

u/SurroundTiny 2d ago

"Trump" tariffs. Guess who they mean here. Not a mystery.

3

u/liburIL 2d ago

Nothing sneaky about it. That is, if you're not a Trump supporter and delusional.

3

u/MourningRIF 2d ago

We went to Walmart yesterday and bought school supplies for one kid, 4 small outdoor plants, and a bottle of sunscreen for $320. The inflation is not gradual by any means.

3

u/creepilincolnbot 2d ago

So far it’s only been the base tariffs. The reciprocal tariffs don’t start until 10/5. But because of inventory front loading, we won’t see the real cost until Spring and Fall of 2026.

3

u/Ar_Ciel Florida 2d ago

The price of a regular soda near me is now a buck higher than yesterday. Nothing gradual about this shit.

3

u/LEM1978 2d ago

I don’t buy 🧻 often, but was shocked at the $30 price tag at Costco. Last time I bought the same pack (when Biden was prez) it was 20% less.

3

u/BackgroundTight32 2d ago

I was excited to buy a jacket from a very small UK based designer.

The jacket is $135. The duty was $76. I did not buy the jacket.

3

u/EthanPrisonMike 2d ago

What’s sneaky about it ? They weaponized tariffs to throw chaos into a functioning economy so they could game the feds dual mandate for a rate decrease as jobs decline. This way the stock market that most of the wealthy / corporations invest in could avoid a healthy cyclical decline and they could use the ensuing chaos to respond with authoritarianism against a persecuted population.

It’s MBA 101, cause a crisis to profit off the solution.

2

u/thumbtaxx 2d ago

Sneak? Been shopping for essentials lately??

2

u/doomeddeath Europe 2d ago

It's too much winning

1

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1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Omnitographer 2d ago

I have a list of material goods that I desire ownership of, created so that those who want to buy me a gift would have some guidance. This list has the price of each item as of December 2024, it will be interesting to revisit it after a year and see what has changed and what hasn't.

1

u/Notgreygoddess 2d ago

Gradual, like the frog in the pot of water?

1

u/Spiritual_Parfait_94 2d ago

Gradually?!?!

1

u/craniumcanyon 2d ago

A slow boil

1

u/jhoosi 2d ago

Only reason why it’s called sneakflation is because Trump is fucking Americans in the ass but his penis is too small for people to notice it.

1

u/mt6606 2d ago

Have a joint and chill for 3.5 years

1

u/sector16 2d ago

But…but…on day one, Trump was going to fix everything :/

1

u/facepoppies 2d ago

It certainly doesn’t feel gradual. Even books are getting more expensive

1

u/bubblehashguy 2d ago

"Sneakflation"? What's sneaky about it.

These new taxes are all over the news every day. People are just too stupid to realize that they're taxes.

1

u/Aretirednurse New Mexico 1d ago

Every week at the market we cut back even more.