Coming price cuts at McDonald's may signal a broader fast food price war

McDonald’s is cutting prices on some combo meals to woo back customers who’ve been turned off by the rising costs of grabbing a fast food meal.

The price drop may induce its rivals, who have run into some of the same pricing issues, to follow.

Starting Sept. 8, McDonald’s will offer Extra Value Meals, which combine select entrées like a Big Mac, an Egg McMuffin or a McCrispy sandwich with medium fries or hash browns and a drink. Prices will vary by location, but McDonald’s said Extra Value Meals will cost 15% less than ordering each of those items separately.

To kick off the promotion, McDonald’s will offer an $8 Big Mac meal or a $5 Sausage McMuffin meal for a limited time in most of the country. Customers in California, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam will have to pay $1 more for those meals.

McDonald’s for years has seen a steady decline in visits from customers in the U.S. who have household incomes of less than $45,000 per year. CEO Chris Kempczinski said those consumers, and others, no longer see McDonald’s as a good value.

At a McDonald’s near the company’s Chicago headquarters, for example, a 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal costs $10.39.

Higher prices have been been a drag on sales. McDonald’s same-store sales – or sales at stores open at least a year – grew 2.5% in the April-June period, but that was mostly because of higher prices. Fast food visits by lower-income consumers dropped by double-digit percentages industrywide in the second quarter, McDonald’s said.

“Today, too often, if you’re that consumer, you’re driving up to the restaurant and you’re seeing combo meals priced over $10,” Kempczinski said during a conference call with investors in August. “That absolutely is shaping value perceptions in a negative way. So we’ve got to get that fixed.”

McDonald's job has been made harder by prices that can vary widely around the country. In May 2024, after a post on X about a Big Mac meal in Connecticut that cost $18 went viral, McDonald’s called it an “exception” and noted that franchisees set prices for nearly all U.S. restaurants.

The company also blames higher costs. The average price of its menu items rose 40% between 2019 and 2024, McDonald’s said, to account for a 40% increase in the cost of labor, packaging and food.

But within a month, McDonald’s introduced a $5 Meal Deal, which combined a McDouble burger or a McChicken sandwich with small fries and a small drink. That deal proved so popular it was extended through this summer.

In January, McDonald’s added another promotion, letting customers buy a limited number of items for $1 if they bought one full-priced item. Those deals will remain alongside the Extra Value Menu for now, McDonald's said.

Other chains are also seeking to grab the attention of potential customers. In late August, Domino’s launched its Best Deal Ever promotion, offering any pizza with any toppings for $9.99.

Overall U.S. fast food customer traffic fell nearly 1% in the second quarter, according to Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting company. The company said price increases were sharply lower than previous quarters, suggesting that chains are already offering more deals.

A McDonald's Big Mac Combo Meal is shown in Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A McDonald's Big Mac Combo Meal is shown in Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A McDonald's Big Mac Combo Meal is shown in Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

FILE - A McDonald's Big Mac, left, rests in a box next to a bag of McDonald's fries, in Walpole, Mass., Wednesday, April 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

FILE - A McDonald's order is delivered on the drive-thru window Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - This photo shows a McDonald's restaurant in Ridgeland, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, file)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that NATO should help the U.S. acquire Greenland and anything less than American control is unacceptable, hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.

In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would — “AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”

“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, is at the center of a geopolitical storm as Trump insists he wants to own it — and residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it isn't for sale. The White House hasn't ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.

Vance is to meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington later Wednesday to discuss Greenland.

Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Nuuk, international journalists and camera crews have been stopping passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off."

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that "if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Asked later Tuesday about Nielsen's comments, Trump replied: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”

Greenland is strategically important because, as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Trump said in Wednesday's post that Greenland is “vital” to the United States' Golden Dome missile defense program. He also has said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” heating engineer Lars Vintner said. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.

Nørgaard said he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO.

Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark, which provides free health care, education and payments during study, and “I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us."

Following the White House meeting, Løkke Rasmussen and Motzfeldt, along with Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., are due to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus in the U.S. Congress.

Two lawmakers — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican — have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit the use of funds from the U.S. Defense or State departments to annex or take control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers is also heading to Copenhagen at the end of the week to meet with Danish and Greenlandic officials.

Last week, Denmark’s major European allies joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in issuing a statement declaring that Greenland belongs to its people and that “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio that his country plans to open a consulate in Greenland on Feb. 6, following a decision last summer to open the diplomatic outpost.

“Attacking another NATO member would make no sense; it would even be contrary to the interests of the United States. And I’m hearing more and more voices in the United States saying this,” Barrot said. “So this blackmail must obviously stop.”

Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

A fisherman carries a bucket onto his boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A boat travels at the sea inlet in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk near the church in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A bird stands on a boat at the harbour of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)