Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump is finding bringing down the cost of living harder than he had thought, Reuters reported. Voters are noticing similarities with the early years of Joe Biden’s presidency, when rising prices also hurt public confidence.
Like Biden, Trump is trying to convince the country that new factory jobs and lower prescription drug costs will ease pressure on households. He has also criticised companies for raising prices, just like Biden.
Trump has even echoed Biden’s 2021 message that inflation would soon fade. “We’re going to be hitting 1.5% pretty soon,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “It’s all coming down.”
But public frustration is growing as the president’s earlier claims that he would quickly fix inflation have not materialised.
Recent elections showed voters swinging towards Democrats over concerns about daily costs. Despite weak polling on the economy, which Trump dismisses as inaccurate, he has floated ideas such as a $2,000 rebate linked to tariffs and 50-year mortgages to reduce monthly payments.
On Friday, he suspended tariffs on beef, coffee, tea, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, fruit juice and some fertilisers. He said these duties “may, in some cases” have contributed to higher prices.
But Bharat Ramamurti, a former deputy director of Biden’s National Economic Council, told Reuters these steps were unlikely to reduce inflation quickly.
“They’re in this very tough position where they’ve developed a reputation for not caring enough about costs, where the tools they have available to them are unlikely to be able to help people in the short term,” he said.
Ramamurti added that voters rarely accept long-term explanations. “That argument does not resonate,” he said, addding, “Take it from me.”
Biden entered office during the post-pandemic recovery, when shortages of appliances, cars and electronics pushed prices up. The 2021 $1.9 trillion relief package drew criticism for being too large, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine helped send food and energy costs higher. The Federal Reserve responded with interest-rate increases.
Biden tried to reassure the public. “Bidenomics is working,” he said in 2023. But a poll that year found only 36% approved of his handling of the economy.
Republicans once blamed Biden’s policies for high prices. Democrats are now making a similar case against Trump.
They argue that Trump’s tariffs feed into consumer prices, that halting clean-energy projects could raise electricity costs, and that mass deportations have made it harder and more expensive to build homes.
Gene Sperling, a senior Biden adviser, said Trump created many of the pressures voters feel.
“It’s striking how many Americans are aware of his trade policy and rightly blame the turnaround in prices on that erratic policy,” he told Reuters.
Sperling added, “He is in a tough trap of his own doing and it’s not likely to get easier.”
When Trump launched new tariffs, annual inflation rose from 2.3% in April to 3% in September. Inflation has not reached the peaks seen under Biden, but Reuters noted that 67% of adults now disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Michael Strain, of the American Enterprise Institute, said both presidents underestimated inflation.
“I think President Biden didn’t take this concern seriously enough in his first few months in office and President Trump isn’t taking this concern seriously enough right now,” he said.
He added that both leaders responded in “weirdly, eerily similar ways” by downplaying inflation and offering government payments.
Trump officials argue that tax cuts, tariff-linked investment rules and changes to regulation could increase supply and reduce price pressures.
“The policies that we’re pursuing right now are increasing supply,” Kevin Hassett, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, said this week.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates, which may encourage investment. But the cuts came because the job market is weakening, not because inflation has returned to target levels. There are concerns that larger rate cuts could push prices up again.
