WASHINGTON (AP) — The President donald trump Problems with fixing high cost of living It may be giving voters a sense of deja vu.
Like his predecessors, Trump is trying to sell the country on his plan to create factory jobs. Republicans, like Democratic presidents, want to lower prescription drug costs. joe biden. Both tried to shame companies by raising prices.
Trump is even depending on the message This echoes Biden’s 2021 assertion that high inflation is just a “temporary” problem that will soon go away.
“We’re going to hit 1.5% very soon,” President Trump told reporters Monday. “Everything is down.”
President Trump continues to say that an economic boom is just around the corner, but there are already signs that his policies are running out of voters’ patience. campaign promise The goal of immediately correcting inflation has not been achieved.
Voters are increasingly frustrated with President Trump over inflation
Voters in this month’s election tilted strongly toward the Democratic Party. Affordability concerns. For this reason, President Trump has dismissed weak economic polling as a floating, bogus idea designed to ease fiscal pressure.
he has promised $2,000 rebate on his tariff and said there is a possibility of extending the period to 30 years. Home loans up to 50 years To reduce monthly payments. On Friday, Trump abolished his tariffs For beef, coffee, tea, fruit juices, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilizers, he said these may have contributed to price increases “in some cases.”
However, these are largely “copyright” moves and are unlikely to move inflation significantly, said Bharat Ramamurti, a former deputy director of the Biden administration’s National Economic Council.
“They are in a very tough position because they have a well-established reputation for not taking costs into account and the tools available to them are unlikely to be able to help people in the short term,” Ramamurti said.
Ramamurti said the Biden administration has learned the hard way that voters won’t be appeased by claims that the president’s policies will ultimately lead to higher incomes.
“That argument doesn’t resonate,” he said. “Please take it from me.”
How has inflation affected Biden’s inauguration as president?
Biden inherited an economy that is trying to recover. coronavirus pandemicclosed schools and offices, led to mass layoffs and historic levels of government borrowing. In March 2021, he signed it into law. $1.9 trillion relief package. Critics said it went too far and could cause prices to rise.
As the economy reopened, there were shortages of computer chips, kitchen appliances, cars, and even furniture. stranded waiting for a cargo ship to dock at a port, supply chain issues. Russia invades Ukraine in early 2022 raised the cost of energy and foodAnd that June, consumer prices reached a 40-year high. The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate to control inflation.
Mr. Biden tried to convince Americans that the economy was strong. Biden: “Bidenomics is working” stated in the 2023 speech. “The United States is now leading the global economy with the highest economic growth rate since the pandemic.”
His arguments did little to sway voters. Only 36% of US adults In August 2023, they approved of his response to the economy, according to a poll at the time by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Trump may be his own worst enemy when it comes to inflation
Republicans argued that Biden’s policies worsened inflation. Democrats are using the same framework against Trump today.
Their argument is this: President Trump’s tariffs are being passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. The cancellation of his clean energy projects means fewer new sources of electricity due to rising utility costs. His mass deportation increased the cost of housing construction in the immigrant-heavy construction sector.
Biden administration officials say President Trump, who entered office with strong growth, a strong job market and inflation near historic levels, has finally reversed those trends.
“It’s amazing how many Americans are aware of his trade policies and rightly blame his erratic policies for the improvement in prices,” said Gene Sperling, a senior adviser to Mr. Biden who also served as chairman of the National Economic Council in the Obama and Clinton administrations.
“He’s put himself in a tough trap, and it’s unlikely to get any easier,” Sperling said.
Consumer prices were rising at an annual rate of 2.3% in April, when President Trump imposed tariffs, but that rate accelerated to 3% in September.
The spike in inflation was smaller than what voters endured under the Biden administration, but so far the political impact appears to be similar. 67% of American adults oppose Regarding President Trump’s performance, according to November polling data from AP-NORC.
“In both cases, the president caused a significant portion of the inflation,” said Michael Strain, director of economic policy research at the center-right think tank American Enterprise Institute. “President Biden did not take this concern seriously enough in his first months in office, and I don’t think President Trump is taking this concern seriously enough at this point.”
Strain noted that both presidents have even responded to the dilemma in “strangely and eerily similar ways,” downplaying inflation as a problem, pointing to other economic indicators, and attempting to address concerns by issuing government checks.
The White House is betting its policies can curb inflation
Trump administration officials have argued that a combination of income tax cuts, a foreign investment framework tied to tariffs, and changes in regulatory enforcement will lead to more factories and jobs. All of this, they say, could increase the supply of goods and services and reduce the forces that drive inflation.
“The policies we’re pursuing right now are increasing supply,” Kevin Hassett, director of the Trump administration’s National Economic Council, told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday.
The Fed has lowered its benchmark interest rate, which could increase the supply of investment money in the economy. But the central bank took this step because of a weakening job market, even though inflation is above its 2% target, and there are concerns that a rate cut of the size President Trump wants could further accelerate inflation.
Time may not be on Trump’s side
According to research by Ryan Cummings, an economist who served on the Biden administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, it takes time for consumer sentiment to improve after inflation declines.
His view on the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index is that the impact of higher inflation post-pandemic is no longer a driving factor. Voters have been frustrated in recent days because Trump has failed to do so, despite having been led to believe he could lower food prices and other spending.
“When it comes to structural affordability issues like housing, child care, education, and health care, President Trump has been moving in the wrong direction on each of those fronts,” said Cummings, now chief of staff at the Stanford Economic Policy Institute.
Trump’s best chance to overcome inflation right now, he said, may be “if we get a very lucky break in commodity prices” through good global harvests and continued oil production that outstrips demand.
For now, President Trump has decided to continue relying on attacking Biden when something goes wrong with the economy, as he did in an interview with Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” on Monday.
“The problem is that Biden did this,” Trump said.
