January 14, 2026
Cart Wars: Ice Cream vs Tariffs
How have prices changed in a year? NPR checked 114 items at Walmart
From $40 to $60: Tariffs, fish fights, and the death of cheap ice cream
TLDR: NPR’s 114-item Walmart check found prices up 5% on average, with tariffs and weather blamed for many hikes. Comments erupted into a blame game—tariffs vs government spending—and a meme war over “Ice Creamgate,” as shoppers argue why dessert costs more even while milk and eggs got cheaper.
Prices at Walmart climbed 5% on average in NPR’s 114-item check, and the comment section went full supermarket smackdown. Tariff drama headlines the aisle: kenjackson argues we’d have seen “a drastically larger reduction” in inflation without them, while linuxftw fires back that it’s “100% purely supply-side pricing” inflated by government spending. Folks side-eye Walmart’s “Every Day Low Prices” promise, and jrussino calls NPR’s old-school “basket of goods” method outdated, begging for bigger datasets and real-time receipts. One user mourned the CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting), adding media funding angst. NPR says tariffs hit imports like folders and fish; Walmart touts more discounts.
Then we get the fish fight: swai fillets up 34%, and zeroonetwothree cheers—“it’s terrible fish anyway.” Meanwhile, Ice Creamgate erupts. Greg Reyes says the family had to ditch ice cream; dsr_ points out milk and butter are cheaper, so “ice cream is being priced too high.” Shoppers trade war stories: Oreos, Coke, and Dove up; eggs, milk, Cheerios down; store brands vs name brands heats up as wallets tap out. It’s a messy, meme-ready grocery saga where tariffs, weather, and retail strategy collide—and the crowd can’t agree whether the villain is policy, pricing, or just an expensive pint.
Key Points
- •NPR’s 114-item Walmart basket rose 5% on average in 2025, amid a 2.7% U.S. annual cost-of-living increase in December.
- •Nearly half the tracked items became more expensive; about a quarter became cheaper, including eggs, milk, and Cheerios.
- •Tariffs and weather-related supply issues were linked to price hikes, especially for imports from China and Vietnam.
- •Specific items saw large increases: China-made paper folders (+46%), Vietnamese swai fillets (+34%), Farberware measuring spoons (+19%), Schwinn infant helmets (+18%).
- •Walmart reported maintaining Every Day low prices and increased December discounts; producers like Kikkoman and Campbell’s said retailers control shelf prices, while Dole cited tariffs and weather shortages.