Harris to Propose Nationwide Ban on ‘Price-Gouging’ of Groceries

On Wednesday, the Harris-Walz campaign announced that Vice President Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will propose a federal ban on “corporate price-gouging in the food and grocery industries,” which would be the first of its kind.

As CNBC reports, a campaign aide issued a statement claiming that “there’s a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets, and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business.” This proposal will be one of very few specific solutions in an economic policy speech on Friday that will otherwise, according to the campaign, be “relatively light” on details.

Harris has also threatened to crack down on potential mergers between large supermarket chains and food producers if she is elected to her own term in November. The campaign statement claimed that such mergers must be targeted  “specifically for the risk that the proposed merger would raise grocery prices for consumers.”

This approach of blaming companies for high prices echoes one of the most common talking points used by Joe Biden prior to his withdrawal from the 2024 election, where the Democrat falsely placed the blame for high inflation on stores and companies rather than on greater economic factors mostly caused by his own policies.

In March, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a “Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing,” which was to be conducted as a joint effort between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In her speech, which will be delivered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harris allegedly plans to target the meat industry in particular, and will falsely claim that “soaring meat prices have accounted for a large part of Americans’ higher grocery bills, even as meat processing companies registered record-breaking profits following the pandemic.”

Harris’ speech being held in North Carolina is widely seen as a reaction to her opponent, former President Donald Trump, delivering a speech on his own economic policy platform two days prior in Asheville, North Carolina. The speech was well-received and President Trump was praised for his enthusiasm as he delivered the address. As such, Harris is once again already being accused of copying the former president’s rhetoric and policy positions, as she did by plagiarizing his campaign proposal to eliminate taxes on tips in the service industry.