New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has seemingly charmed President Donald Trump once again, this time to help struggling Americans who rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to feed their families.
Mamdani announced the win Friday on X, where one user hailed the progressive mayor “The Trump Whisperer.”
“I spoke with President Trump, and he agreed to give small business owners across America at least a 90-day extension to comply with new SNAP rules,” wrote Mamdani. “The concerns of the smallest businesses should always be raised to the highest levels of government.”
Trump last year signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, kicking millions of people off of Medicaid and implementing work requirements for certain recipients of SNAP, which some 42 million Americans rely on. Retailers were ordered to comply with new rules by Nov. 4.
These rules require retailers to stock at least seven varieties of food staples in categories such as meat, dairy and vegetables in order to retain their authorization to accept food stamps.
Mamdani reportedly wrote Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins a letter earlier this month asking for a six-month delay, arguing thousands of New York City corner stores depend on revenue from SNAP recipients and could lose their bodegas under the new rules.
Mamdani called his deal with Trump a “victory” during a press conference Friday, noting that working-class people struggling with “soaring costs at the register” were scared that “the few places they could shop” would no longer be legally allowed to accept their benefits.
He added that SNAP purchases account for up to 20% of a typical bodega’s sales, and when reporters asked whether Trump resisted during their conversation to secure this extension, the mayor said he merely explained the situation to him.
Watch the full Mamdani press conference here:
“What I told the president was that this is a rule that, if allowed to be implemented on the timeline as it was scheduled, would be one that would throw the lives of so many working New Yorkers into a real place of anxiety and chaos,” Mamdani said Friday.
He added, “And the president took that concern seriously and he agreed to extend this.”
While the democratic socialist has few ideological principles in common with Trump, they’ve fostered an unexpectedly warm relationship over the past year—often meeting in person and discussing issues affecting New Yorkers, such as Trump’s immigration agenda.
Mamdani made sure to send some praise Trump’s way on Friday.
“I want to thank the president ... [for his] consideration of New Yorkers and the hardship that this would have imposed on millions of Americans,” he said. “In doing this, President Trump has delivered relief to small business owners across our city and across America.”