Trump is Making Your Halloween Candy More Expensive

Has anyone else felt a chill while walking down the candy aisle this year?   It's not the unseen ghosts of the Biden administration causing a shudder, but the price of chocolate. The cost of the popular sweets has been on the rise for quite some time, and this past year was no exception.

According to research conducted by Finance Buzz, the price tag of 100-piece candy bags rose on average by about $2 this year (after Trump was elected).  Convicted felon Donald Trump promised he would do something to lower the prices affecting families, but that (like most everything else coming out of his mouth) was complete bullshit. 

Chocolate has been facing a cost crisis since Trump took office. When Trump’s chaotic tariffs came for major cocoa exporters like Brazil, West Africa, and Ecuador over the summer, that set the stage for higher Halloween candy prices. 

Trump later issued an exemption for cocoa products coming out of Indonesia, but that was peanuts compared to the largest exporters of cocoa.  Trump continued to hold a personal grudge against Brazil, since former Brazilian president Bolsonaro was convicted of crimes related to the Brazilian coup.  As for West Africa and Ecuador, who knows-- maybe they haven't yet nominated Trump for the Nobel Prize. 

But it’s climate change that’s emerging as the major challenge for chocolate makers trying to keep prices low.  Major cocoa exporters like West Africa have been hit hard by increasingly tumultuous weather patterns. And with dwindling supply—well, you know how it goes. 

The spookiest part of all of this geopolitical chocolate talk is that the Trump administration has been doing its part to ensure cocoa—and all other crops—might never see their glory days again.   Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin has dismantled programs studying climate change while proudly announcing he was prepared to “drive a dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”  To make matters worse, Zeldin has openly said that he no longer believes in the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. 

In other words, don’t expect the Trump administration to help make your candy bars any cheaper.