Joe Biden, the ice-cream-loving predecessor of Donald Trump, was given a cold burn by the president’s administration, who claimed he had led the US ice cream industry on a difficult economic footing.
Under President Trump’s leadership, the Office of the US Trade Representative reported on X on July 20 that “America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million.” A chart was included in the post that showed the US’s trade deficit with Turkiye, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, and Japan.
In the year that Biden took office, the US ice cream trade balance dramatically changed. Imports outnumber exports officially changed to zero in 2022, which indicates that the trade balance has changed since.
However, experts in the industry caution that exports account for only a small portion of the US’s ice cream production, and imports account for only a small portion of the country’s total.
Imports increased, primarily, to drive the trade change. Since 2020, exports have largely remained unchanged.
Then there’s the cherry on top. Data is also affected by disagreement over what products should be categorized as “ice cream,” according to experts. For instance, the US Trade Representative’s office references “edible ice,” which some experts (and dairy advocates) contend doesn’t qualify as ice cream.
According to Executive Vice President of the International Dairy Foods Association, Matt Herrick, “the US is a net exporter by a significant margin of ($193 million) or + 85% larger by value” after removing edible ice, PolitiFact received an email from the organization.
US trade deficit is caused by rising imports of ice cream.
According to the Online Observatory of Economic Complexity, which tracks economic data, the US had a trade surplus of between $ 20 million and $ 160 million between 1995 and 2020. Mexico is the country’s longest-standing client, followed by Saudi Arabia and Canada.
The US recorded an ice cream trade deficit of $92 million and $33 million, respectively, in 2021, which was close to losing.
Importing frozen foods seems unfavorable at first glance.
According to dairy economist Betty Berningat of HighGround Dairy, shipping frozen and refrigerated goods abroad is expensive. Mexico is “the top destination for US dairy exports,” according to the statement.
However, many US and European businesses have entered global markets.
Consumers may also want a particular dish named after or credited with being from another nation, according to Herrick.
Italy, the country’s first source for imported ice cream, is now the largest single source for imported ice cream in the United States. Italian ice cream imports increased by almost $65 million between 2020 and 2021 alone, before dropping slightly in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available.
This is partially due to the rise in demand for specialty pints among consumers. According to a report from Mordor Intelligence, a global market research firm, “product innovation and premiumization have become important in the US ice cream industry.”
The growth of premium pint offerings and individually wrapped novelties that offer both indulgence and portion control preferences is evidence of this trend, according to the report.
Much more ice cream is produced in the US than it is exported or imported.
To get to the pint: American ice cream is made there, not abroad.
The US ice cream industry is cherry-picking statistics from a sizable portion of it.
In 2024, US ice cream producers produced 1.31 billion gallons of the stuff, according to data from the US Agriculture Department. This includes frozen yoghurt, low-fat ice cream, sherbet, and regular ice cream.
In 2024, the US imported 2.35 million gallons of traditional ice cream, or 0.18 percent of the country’s production, according to Herrick.
That domestic production, which is only a small portion of 1.31 billion gallons of ice cream, was exported by the US, or about 1 percent of that amount.
Factoring in ice cream mixes, excluding “edible ice” products.
Another con for the international trade data is that it does not include “mixes,” which skew the totals, according to Herrick of the International Dairy Foods Association.
Making ice cream shakes and soft-serve products is done using mixes, which account for a sizable portion of US ice cream exports. Herrick remarked, “Inclusion of these data points would significantly alter the picture.” The exports of mixes have decreased, but it is true that the same cannot be said for traditional ice cream and edible ice exports.
He claimed that over the past five years, exports of milk-based beverages from the US have increased by 621 percent. The US exported nearly $35 million in mixes to the European Union in 2024.
A centuries-old love affair is melting away, Americans and dairy-based ice cream.
There are a lot of ice cream devoted fans at The White House.
The capital was provided with ice cream-making equipment by George Washington . Thomas Jefferson is credited as the first person to create an ice cream recipe in the world. Ronald Reagan declared July 1984 National Ice Cream Month. Barack Obama even slung scoops back in the day, according to legend.
When Biden visited Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream headquarters in 2016 and was frequently seen with a cone in hand, Biden declared, “I love ice cream, and my name is Joe Biden.”
However, regular dairy ice cream consumption has been declining for years, a category that does not include frozen yoghurt, sherbet, or nonfat and low-fat ice creams.
Americans consumed 18.2 pounds of ice cream each year on average in 1975. That figure fell to 11.7 pounds by 2023.
Our decision
Under President Trump’s leadership, the US Trade Representative’s office claimed to have a summertime scoop: “America had a trade surplus in ice cream in 2020, but that surplus turned into a trade deficit of $40.6 million under President Biden’s watch.”
It is accurate to say that before Biden became president, the US ice cream trade balance was surplus for a quarter of a century.
However, the statement from the US Trade Representative causes the US ice-cream deficit to appear convoluted.
This trade sundae contains three scoops of context:
Imports increased a lot, which contributed to the change. Since 2020, exports have largely remained unchanged.
In comparison to domestic production, US ice cream imports and exports are insignificant.
There is disagreement over whether a particular product should or not be included in the data set, which can affect how trend interpretations are interpreted. The US has a surplus after factoring in ice cream mixes and edible ice products.
We rate the statement Mostly True, but it still needs some clarification and more details.
Source: Aljazeera
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