Trump Admin Struggling To Import Eggs As It Seeks To Bring Their Price Down

The Trump administration is scrambling in one of its latest attempts to address the egg shortage plaguing the country, which has also led to skyrocketing prices: import vast amounts from other countries.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and American embassies have reportedly contacted major egg-exporting nations, including Poland, France, and Indonesia, to explore options for increasing supply. Concretely, the U.S. is seeking to import 70 to 100 million eggs within the next two months to offset the effects of the country's worst bird flu outbreak, which has significantly reduced production, Bloomberg reported.

The Netherlands, the world's top egg exporter, may resume shipments to the U.S. after the country's import licenses were suspended in January. Spain and Indonesia are assessing their capacity to export.

The effort, however, faces several challenges. Eggs have a short shelf life and fragile shells, making them difficult to ship. Trade barriers, including strict health regulations and processing standards, complicate the process further, and some exporting nations are also dealing with their own bird flu outbreaks or limited supply.

Moreover, the global egg trade is relatively small, with only 3% of the world's supply crossing international borders. Other countries are also seeing price increases too. European wholesale egg prices recently hit a two-year high, and industry officials in France and Poland have warned that their available stock for export is low. Even where exports are possible, some countries may need to process eggs into dried or frozen products before shipping them to meet U.S. import requirements, the outlet explained.

Given the scale of the U.S. shortage, industry analysts told Bloomberg that importing enough eggs to significantly lower prices may not be feasible in the short term.

Many have resorted to attempting to smuggling eggs across the southern border, with US Customs and Border Protection agents in Texas preventing dozens of people from doing so.

"Nationally, we can report that there has been a 29% increase in eggs being detained at ports of entry this fiscal year (October 2024 to February 2025) when compared to the same time last fiscal year," said a CBP spokesperson in late February.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) specialists in El Paso have issued over a dozen civil penalties related to the attempted smuggling of raw eggs, with fines amounting to a total of almost $4000. CBP further clarified that bringing fresh eggs, raw chicken, live birds or other unprocessed avian products into the US is prohibited. Travelers are encouraged to declare all agricultural products being brought into the country to CBP officers.

Trump administration Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently addressed rising prices, suggesting that Americans struggling to cope with inflation should begin maintaining backyard coops and produce their own eggs.

"People are sort of looking around thinking, 'Wow, well maybe I can get a chicken in my backyard,' and it's awesome," Rollins said.

The Centers for Disease Control released a guide detailing how the prevalence of backyard flocks could further facilitate the spread of avian influenza due to difficulties in regulating these private flocks. One such flock in Kansas had to be entirely culled at the end of last year after the mysterious deaths of some chickens were proven to have been caused by bird flu.