Accusing California of imposing “unnecessary red tape” on the production of eggs, the Trump administration is suing the state over animal cruelty laws it claims have driven up prices nationwide.
“California has effectively prevented farmers across the country from using a number of agricultural production methods which were in widespread use — and which helped keep eggs affordable,” states the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The lawsuit, which also names Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and other state officials, contends that a 1970 federal law regulating egg quality and packaging preempts state laws that seek to impose additional requirements on egg production. In particular, it targets three California laws that create welfare standards for farm animals and regulate egg production.
“Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment. However, a response from his office posted on X said: “Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything.”
“Pointing fingers won’t change the fact that it is the President’s economic policies that have been destructive,” a spokesperson for the California attorney general’s office wrote in a statement to this news organization. “We’ll see him in court.”
Record-high egg prices in the past year have largely been attributed to the bird flu, which has devastated poultry flocks nationwide since the start of the outbreak in early 2022.
As of this month, the highly contagious disease has infected nearly 175 million birds nationally, according to data from the Department of Agriculture. The department requires culling flocks — killing infected birds — to prevent the spread, which has further contributed to egg shortages across the country.
“High egg prices in the past year are attributable to one thing: continuing cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, called bird flu, that occurred in rapid succession,” Hinda Mitchell, a spokesperson for the American Egg Board, wrote in a statement to this news organization. “This was true in California, where the loss of nearly 12 million egg laying hens in late 2024 and into early 2025 devastated the state’s egg flocks and depleted the available supply of California-compliant eggs.”
Mitchell further stated that the American Egg Board is aware of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California and will “closely monitor its progress.”
“America’s egg farmers recognize the continuing efforts of the administration to reduce regulatory burdens on U.S. agriculture,” she said.
In response to a request for comment, the DOJ referred this news organization to its press release announcing the lawsuit. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump officials also have acknowledged the role of the bird flu in raising egg prices. In a February op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins wrote that her plan to lower egg prices primarily involved addressing bird flu through contamination prevention, financial aid for farmers, and vaccines for chickens — in addition to other steps such as loosening egg production regulations.
Some of the federal government’s messaging in recent months regarding falling egg prices appear at odds with its statements about inflated egg prices in the lawsuit.
Over the past five months, White House news releases have emphasized declines in egg prices as a result of policies implemented since Trump’s return to office. One highlighted a finding from the Consumer Price Index that egg prices in April saw the largest one-month drop in more than four decades.
That report “shows that the American people are experiencing real economic relief: grocery, gas, and egg prices are down, while real wages are up,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a May press release.
California laws affecting egg production include Proposition 12, a voter initiative passed in 2018 that bans the sale of eggs produced by hens kept in extreme confinement. Pork industry groups challenged the law in federal court, arguing that states cannot impose requirements on out-of-state businesses in order for them to sell their products in the state. The Supreme Court upheld the law’s constitutionality in a 2023 ruling.
The other two measures mentioned in the lawsuit are Proposition 2, which prevents farm animals from being tied up and unable to move for much of the day, and AB1437, which makes it a crime to sell eggs in California that were not produced in accordance with Proposition 2 standards.
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