Trumponomics resulted in more Shrinkflation?
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For those that didn't get the meaning of trumponomics at the first glance of the word, yes it's obviously about the one and only Donald Trump and it's a term used to describe all the policies and administrative decisions Trump makes.
The question is, can we trace the Shrinkflation problem in America and some other parts of the world to the policies of Donald Trump?
The answer is more nuanced than I can explain but there are a few factors that we can look at which suggests that a piece of the blame is going to have to go to Trump.
Trump’s tariff wars recently, increased costs for manufacturing companies and in other to still stay in business and be in profit, some of these companies responded by reducing product sizes instead of raising their prices. They didn't want the same product to seem too expensive when the price tag goes up.
Import taxes in America under Trump's administration really affected pricing. Ingredients for food and packaging got more expensive and that pushed a lot of brands towards Shrinkflation. Not all companies practice Shrinkflation because of greed, some do so just to survive bad economics.
The trade wars that dominated 2025 disrupted supply chains, so the companies quietly cut quantities to protect their profits.
And it's not as if there were regulations controlling sizes of products. Even if there were, it was weak regulations and that made it easier for companies to reduce sizes without any clear disclosure to their customers.
The effect of Trump's "America First" trade policies was increase in production costs, and consumers ended up with less product for the same money and for some products, more money.
We can't blame Trump's administration for everything, but some of the past policies contributed to the economic hardship people faced, and that's the thing about America, because of its role in the world and how it's linked to a lot of other nations, if it's affected or makes a negative policy, other nations also suffer.
This is the main reason why all countries should strive for total independence. So that if a nation screws up, they will be the only ones affected. I doubt that would be the case in the near future, perhaps in the distant future it could happen and that would be a true Utopia.
https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/comments/1q1vq37/trump_tariff_war_last_year_was_easy_excuse_for/
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I'm a firm believer that sanctions and tariffs are more often than not destructive.
What politicians of all types forget is that when you apply tariffs, it's your own citizens paying. It's both in terms of the cost of imported goods, but also with their jobs as the target countries impose their own retaliatory sanctions which hurt the businesses trying to export.
As for sanctions, something which really angers me is that the US, UK and EU apply and enforce rigid sanctions without any UN mandate. For example, defining a tankers as "Shadow Fleet" because the country owning it allows it to buy insurance from their own insurance industry rather than from Lloyds of London, and then capturing or sinking them in international waters is nothing short of piracy. Although the story of Ursa Major is likely to make one heck of a thriller movie in a few years, from a recent underwater investigation by Spain (whose waters it was nearest when it sank) it seems that it was not an "engine room malfunction" as we were initially told, the damage is consistent with a type of cavitation torpedo only available to a few of the highest-end navies.
If governments truly want peace, sanctions aren't the way to go; it's better to keep trading and keep talking. The more trade, the higher the barriers to warfare and the less damage is done to civil society.
Tariffs and sanctions just end up messing with regular stuff people rely on every day, I don't see any good with it for the citizens