It was the issue that won him the presidency, many political analysts agree, and Donald Trump promised inflation and rising prices on everyday goods and services would “come down, and they’ll come down fast” if he was elected.
How fast? Trump was very specific.
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” he said at the time.
Americans believed him, but, nearly one month into his presidency, prices have not come down much at all. Eggs, most noticeably, cost more than ever.
Asked about it Sunday in an interview with Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier, Trump had no answer, rambling instead about the “the most beautiful word in the English language,” tariffs, which most economists predict will hit consumers the hardest.
Here’s the exchange:
BAIER: “There are some signs in the market, consumer confidence, they’re a little jittery. So, if all goes to plan, when do you think families would be able to feel prices going down, groceries, energy? Or are you kind of saying to them, hang on, inflation may get worse until it gets better?”
TRUMP: “No, I think we’re going to become a rich – and look, we’re not that rich right now. We owe $36 trillion. That’s because we let all these nations take advantage of us. Same thing, like $200 billion with Canada. We owe $300 – we have a deficit with Mexico of $350 billion. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to let that happen.”
First, a few corrections. According to Politifact, the overall trade deficit with Canada falls to about $41 billion when factoring in a U.S. surplus in services.
And when compared to other countries, the U.S. is extremely well-off, boasting the world’s highest gross domestic product, at $27.7 trillion. Adjusting for population, the US ranks fourth-richest, trailing only Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland.
Of course, the soaring national debt puts the country on shakier ground. And of the last three presidents, no one has added more to deficit than … Trump, during his first term. In fact, Trump spent as much in one term as Barack Obama did in two.
According to Axios, Joe Biden spent half as much in his one term as Trump did in his first four years in office: $4.8 trillion for Trump and $2.2 trillion for Biden. And that’s excluding COVID spending.
The truth is, the economy was likely to be a burden to whomever won the presidency, with rapidly rising debt levels coinciding with high interest rates and greater numbers of people entering retirement.
Trump had already begun backtracking before Sunday, first telling NBC News that he could not “guarantee” prices would come down,” then, in an interview with Time, saying, “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
In the NBC interview, Trump said tariffs will fix everything.
“They cost Americans nothing,” he said. “They made a great economy for us.”
