Biden takes credit for Target food price cuts

President Joe Biden took a victory lap after Target announced it was lowering prices on groceries and other items — and hopes voters will give him credit for it.

“President Biden has called on grocery chains making record profits to lower prices for consumers – and they are answering the call,” the White House wrote in a social media post Monday evening in response to a headline about Target’s price cuts.

Earlier Monday, Target announced it would lower prices on about 5,000 items, including food items like bread, fruit, vegetables, milk and meat. The company said discounts on 1,500 items had already taken effect with thousands more coming over the summer.

It’s timely news for Biden, who has spent recent years mounting a corporate lobbying campaign with various government agencies.

And with less than six months until the November election, Biden now wants voters to recognize this corporate battle, especially as he tries to push a tough economic narrative that his policies have helped consumers as they still feel a high cost of living.

Early national polls showed voters blaming Biden for lingering budget constraints after the pandemic. In turn, the president placed the blame on big companies, accusing them of keeping prices artificially high even as their production costs fell.

“President Biden’s top economic priorities are fighting inflation and reducing costs for the American people,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates wrote in a memo Monday. “Resistance to corporate price gouging is at the heart of this fight.”

For grocery chains, the crackdown on businesses has been particularly fierce.

In a letter to Biden last week, Democratic lawmakers claimed grocery stores are price-fixers, urging him to take executive action to lower food prices.

A March report from the Federal Trade Commission claimed that grocery stores were taking advantage of supply chain disruptions to raise prices and keep them high. The FTC also filed suit against the attempted merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, which the agency said would limit competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

These actions come as Biden regularly takes shots at companies for “price gouging” and “contracting inflation.”

In March, Biden launched the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing, jointly led by the FTC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division, to address his complaints about corporate pricing.

Now, Biden is trying to tie his policies to Target’s price cuts to help connect voters to any economic relief they might soon feel.

Besides the political opportunity for Biden, Target’s announcement ultimately helps confirm an economic signal that corporate pricing power is beginning to reverse.

The latest consumer price index revealed that food prices fell by 0.2% between March and April.

Various sectors have begun to signal that the long-awaited decline in consumer spending is materializing after years of persistent inflation.

Along with Target, consumers’ growing price fatigue has prompted companies like Wendy’s and McDonald’s to start offering cheaper meal options to keep customers on tight budgets in their stores.

“We know consumers feel compelled to get the most out of their budget, and Target is here to help them save more,” said Rick Gomez, Target executive vice president and chief food, product and marketing officer. essentials and beauty, in a press release announcing the reductions.