Former President Donald Trump has blasted his rival’s call for a federal ban on food price gouging as “communist” price controls. But experts say the proposal is a far cry from Soviet-style caps, and over three dozen states led by both parties already have versions of their own curbs.

Vice President Kamala Harris, in laying out her economic agenda if elected, proposed last week to crack down on “excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business” by food and grocery sellers,…