PARMA, Ohio — With talk of tariffs, worries over our wallets are heating up.
That's nothing new. One major issue this past year during the election was the rising cost of goods like groceries due to inflation.
"A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper," President Donald Trump said during a campaign rally the day before the election in November. "So many people mention groceries. A beautiful but simple word: groceries."
On Inauguration Day in January, News 5 visited a grocery store in Parma to see and learn, in this unscientific experiment, how much of the noise is the everyday reality that impacts your wallet. A commitment to examine the same products in the same sizes in the same store.
We spent almost $35 before taxes on nine items and visited a nearby gas station to check on the price for a gallon of unleaded gas.
Here's a look at those grocery prices on January 20 versus April 4, immediately after President Trump announced global tariffs:
"Groceries are down," President Trump said Wednesday during his tariff announcement. "Gasoline is way under $3 and people are beginning to be able to buy things and live again. We brought prices way down."
The biggest takeaway from this comparison is the number of items whose prices have not changed, including toilet paper, detergent, bread, cereal, green beans and pasta.
Eggs, which have been plagued by problems with bird flu, did see a decrease in cost.
"Now we have lots of eggs and they're much cheaper, down about 59% now, and they're going down further," Trump added on Wednesday.
In January, News 5 bought a dozen of Egglands Best Dozen for $5.47. Now, it’s down, but not quite 59% — more like 4% or about $0.22.
When News 5 returned to the same grocery store, we found peanut butter on sale, down 32 cents from the same price we saw in January.
What did go up was milk by 10 cents since January.
In total, the cart of items saw an overall decrease in cost by $0.44 — from $34.81 in January to $34.37 in April.
As for gasoline, which can be impacted by all sorts of factors, News 5 noticed the same gas station was selling unleaded gasoline for $3.21/gallon, about four cents more in April than in January.
News 5 will continue to follow these prices in the weeks and months to see how or if they change.
