President Trump is going after your grocery bill from an angle most Americans never think about: the refrigerant inside the cooling systems that keep food cold from the warehouse to the store shelf.
On Wednesday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stood alongside Trump in the Oval Office to announce the rollback of two Biden-era refrigerant regulations the White House says imposed billions of dollars in unnecessary costs on supermarkets, home air conditioning, semiconductor manufacturing, and medical supply transportation.
The combined savings: $2.4 billion, according to the administration.
That announcement landed the same day Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hopped on social media to complain about the cost of hot dogs and watermelon heading into Memorial Day weekend.
Americans are getting absolutely crushed by surging costs as we head into Memorial Day Weekend. Compared to last year:
Hot dogs are up 12%
Buns are up 20%
Ketchup is up 14%
Watermelon is up 17%
Lettuce is up 19%
Tomatoes are up 22%The price of gas? Up 42% from this time last…
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 21, 2026
The irony is thick. Schumer’s party spent four years layering regulations onto every link in the food supply chain, and now he wants credit for noticing the bill came due.
The White House laid out the specifics in a fact sheet released Wednesday.
President Trump terminated Biden Administration regulations that imposed burdensome and costly requirements on refrigerators and air conditioners, driving up the price of transporting and storing refrigerated goods and raising the price of food and other items.
EPA finalized revisions to the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule to extend compliance deadlines for hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, making a wider variety of more affordable refrigerants available to businesses. The White House said President Trump is also proposing a correction to the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule.
That second rule imposed leak repair requirements on virtually all existing large-scale refrigeration systems, according to the administration. The White House said the combined actions will save Americans $2.4 billion, including more than $900 million from Technology Transitions Rule changes and up to $1.5 billion for refrigerated-goods transporters if the ER&R fix is finalized.
The first action finalizes revisions to the 2023 Technology Transitions Rule, extending compliance deadlines for hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants and making a wider range of affordable refrigerants available to American businesses.
That change alone accounts for over $900 million in savings, with more than $800 million of that going directly to supermarkets.
The second action is a proposed correction to the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule, which the White House says imposed leak repair requirements on virtually all existing large-scale refrigeration systems.
If finalized, that fix could save transporters of refrigerated goods up to $1.5 billion.
The EPA confirmed the savings are expected to flow directly to consumers, noting the added flexibility will be felt across supermarkets, home AC systems, semiconductor chip manufacturing, and medical supply transportation.
EPA said Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the two actions alongside President Trump in the Oval Office, with savings expected to flow directly to consumers. The agency described the Biden-era rules as costly overreaching restrictions that limited which refrigerants American businesses and families could use.
The Trump EPA final revisions extend compliance deadlines for hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants while still meeting statutory requirements under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act. EPA said the added flexibility will be felt by supermarkets, home AC systems, semiconductor chip manufacturing, and medical supply transportation.
EPA is also proposing to exempt road refrigerant transport appliances from HFC leak repair requirements established in the 2024 ER&R Rule. The agency said the Biden Administration made an error by subjecting the refrigerant transport sector to those leak requirements even though it presents a low risk to human health.
Zeldin said Americans were right to be frustrated with Biden-era refrigerant rules. He said the rules did not protect human health or the environment and instead piled on costly, unattainable restrictions beyond what the law requires.
That was Zeldin’s assessment, and it gets at the core of the problem.
The Biden EPA went far beyond the statutory requirements of the AIM Act and turned refrigerant policy into a climate crusade that hit grocery stores, trucking companies, and families paying their electric bills.
“Once again, here we are in the Oval Office—President Trump is righting another wrong…. we are proudly implementing President Trump’s agenda every single day, and delivering for the American People.” @EPA @EPALeeZeldin pic.twitter.com/M2rkaiT1G7
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) May 21, 2026
This is the kind of deregulation that hits the checkout line instead of the cable-news greenroom.
Every supermarket in America runs massive refrigeration systems. Every truck hauling milk, meat, and produce relies on refrigerants to keep food safe.
When Washington makes those systems more expensive to operate, the cost does not disappear.
It lands on the receipt at checkout.
The Biden administration knew that, or should have. Instead, they prioritized climate signaling over kitchen-table economics, and Americans paid the difference without ever knowing why.
President Trump is peeling that cost back, one regulation at a time. Whether Schumer wants to admit it or not, this is what actually lowering prices looks like.
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