Mamdani Says Trump Agreed to 90-Day Delay of New SNAP Store Stocking Rules

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Friday that President Donald Trump agreed to give retailers at least 90 more days to comply with new federal SNAP stocking rules. The delay applies nationwide and spares stores that could otherwise have lost authorization to accept food stamps.

Mamdani said he spoke with Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The USDA rules, issued Sept. 4, require retailers to carry at least seven varieties of staple foods in four categories, including dairy, grains, proteins, and fruits and vegetables. The compliance date was Nov. 4. Mamdani had asked Rollins for a six-month delay, arguing that thousands of corner stores depend on SNAP customers. He said New York City has more than 10,000 bodegas and corner stores. “President Trump has delivered relief to small business owners across our city and across America,” he said at City Hall.

Left-leaning Politico and HuffPost frame the news around the Trump-Mamdani relationship. Politico calls it a chummy relationship and runs the headline Trump and Zohran sitting in a tree…. HuffPost says Mamdani charmed Trump, cites an X user's “The Trump Whisperer” label, and recalls Trump's signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with its SNAP work requirements. Right-leaning Washington Examiner and Fox Business lead with Mamdani's words thanking Trump and Rollins, reproducing his statement almost verbatim. The Examiner notes the “relatively amicable relationship” despite his socialist views and anti-ICE stance, while Fox points to an upcoming Trump-Mamdani meeting. All sides agree on the 90-day figure and the mayor's account. Newsweek, the independent outlet, adds that the USDA first rejected calls to postpone. The sources differ on how many Americans use SNAP: HuffPost says 42 million and Newsweek says 36 million.