If you’re a fast-food lover like myself, you’ve probably noticed an explosion in bacon menu items. From McDonald's and their recent Bacon Happy Hour to Wendy’s Baconator Fries, it seems like every fast food chain is loading up on pork. At this point you may ask yourself—have the bacon gods answered my prayers and blessed us with endless bacon? Not exactly. The reason for these bacon dishes may have to do with Trump’s trade war with China.
Starting in 2018, Trump made the first move by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports. The result? A back-and-forth trade war between Trump and China, leading China to impose a 62% tariff on US pork. Domestic hog producers in turn have had to slash prices to make up for this huge loss, dropping the wholesale price of pork to the lowest we’ve seen in a decade.
While McDonald’s and Wendy’s have publicly stated that this bacon boom is not due to low pork prices, but to customer preferences, I can’t help but think there’s something more to the story. It makes sense to assume that this record-low drop in pork prices would encourage fast food giants to make bacon the star of their menus.
Regardless of the reason, I won’t be thinking too much about it as I live my best life with Baconator fries. At the end of the day, all I can say is that it’s a great time to be a bacon lover.
