New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured a 90-day extension for small retailers nationwide to comply with federal food assistance rules, the latest result of his unexpected working relationship with President Donald Trump.

The Department of Agriculture rules, which took effect last week, require retailers to stock a wider variety of products to remain eligible to accept payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The extension begins Friday.

Mamdani had warned that the requirements could threaten more than 10,000 New York City bodegas and corner stores, along with residents who rely on them, if businesses could not comply in time. Before the rules took effect, he joined a bipartisan letter urging Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to delay implementation.

The mayor said he raised the issue directly with Trump after City Hall contacted the federal government. Following negotiations with the president and Rollins, the administration agreed to give small retailers across the country more time.

Mamdani said he told Trump that enforcing the original schedule would place working New Yorkers in “a real place of anxiety and chaos.” The president, he added, “took that concern seriously.”

The agreement comes as the two approach the first anniversary of their Nov. 21, 2025, Oval Office meeting, which marked a turn in their previously adversarial relationship. Mamdani declined to say how frequently they speak, but said their conversations continue.

The mayor’s approach has produced other results. In February, he successfully asked Trump to release a Columbia University student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has continued privately requesting the release of other detained immigrants, according to POLITICO. The two have also discussed potential federal involvement in a major development over the Sunnyside Yard rail depot in Queens.

Mamdani rarely criticizes Trump directly and has been guarded about their private conversations. At a joint appearance outside Gracie Mansion in September, he responded to a question about Trump’s short-lived White House media ban by saying he supported having a variety of news outlets cover City Hall.