President Donald Trump’s favorite fast-food joint is struggling as his chaotic economic policy weighs heavily on consumers.
McDonald’s has experienced its biggest sales drop since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fast food giant announced Thursday. Same-store sales in the U.S. were down 3.6 percent last quarter compared to the same period last year, the Financial Times reported.
It was the worst drop since sales plummeted 8.7 percent in mid-2020, the paper reported.
The weak results coincided with Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and ensuing trade wars, which have sent markets tumbling and raised fears about unemployment and recession, according to the paper.
“Consumers today are grappling with uncertainty,” McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said.
The U.S. economy contracted by 0.3 percent over the first three months of this year as Trump unveiled universal tariffs on all imports during an April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement. The duties are an import tax paid by American companies, with the added costs typically passed on to consumers.
Additional tariffs were added for products from countries with which the U.S. has large trade deficits, including China, ballooning into a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The tariffs sent stock markets tumbling—wiping out trillions of dollars in value—and have even rattled the usually stable U.S. bond markets. The S&P 500 has fallen 8 percent since Trump’s inauguration—its worst run during a president’s first 100 days in office in more than 50 years.
The volatility has shaken consumer confidence and left many Americans worried about their job prospects, according to the Financial Times.
McDonald’s share prices have gone up 10 percent this year as investors predicted customers would flock to fast food during times of economic downturn, but in fact, revenue and net income also fell by 3 percent.
Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill also posted relatively weak quarterly results, while sales at Taco Bell surged by 9 percent.
Trump is famously a McDonald’s fanatic and has been known to serve the franchise’s burgers and fries at the White House.
During his 2024 re-election campaign, he staged a publicity stunt at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, where be briefly took over fry cook duties and handed out meals to drive-thru customers. The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes, and none of the customers were allowed to actually place any orders.
They just accepted whatever Trump handed them, not unlike his tariffs policy.
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