Trump Days Rising Energy Costs Temporary, Relief on
the Horizon
At a White House event for Small
Business Week, he described the economy as “roaring” and predicted that gas
prices would go down soon.
·
Economic claims: Donald Trump touted tax cuts and
deregulation as drivers of a “roaring” economy and strong small business
growth.
·
War impact: Ongoing conflict with Iran has
pushed global oil prices higher, amid tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
·
Rising fuel costs:
o
Gasoline ~ $4.45/gallon
o
Diesel ~ $5.64/gallon
→ Increasing transportation and overall consumer prices.
·
Cost-of-living concerns:
Households face growing financial strain, contradicting optimistic economic
messaging.
·
Downplaying inflation: Trump
described rising energy costs as temporary and expected them to fall soon.
·
Job cuts defense: He
justified federal workforce reductions, claiming displaced workers found
better-paying private sector jobs.
·
Political pressure: With
midterms approaching, criticism is growing that he is focusing more on foreign
policy than domestic economic issues.
·
Messaging challenges: Speeches
often lacked focus on core economic issues, including digressions and political
attacks (e.g., against Joe Biden).
·
Welfare programs stance: Promised
to protect Social Security and Medicare, while delegating details to Mehmet Oz.
·
Overall takeaway: A
widening gap between government claims of economic strength and public
experience of rising living costs.
Facing
pressure to address the economic fallout of his war in Iran, President Trump on
Monday sought to portray his policy wins for small businesses as evidence that he
was succeeding in building up the economy.
Speaking
to business leaders from across the country at an event in the East Room of the
White House, Mr. Trump declared that slashing taxes and regulations had yielded
“record business,” and that the economy was “roaring.” The White House described
the Small Business Week event as highlighting “the extraordinary revival of Main
Street under his America First agenda.”
But
looming over it all was a war abroad that Mr. Trump had begun, and whose economic
impact is compounding cost-of-living concerns among Americans, many of whom
increasingly say their economic reality has worsened under his tenure.
Mr.
Trump’s comments on Monday created a sharp contrast with the economic reality outside
Washington, as rising energy prices hammer families and businesses alike.
With
talks between the United States and Iran at a standstill, the price of Brent crude,
the global benchmark for oil, reached about $114 per barrel by Monday evening. The
spike came at a moment of great uncertainty about the blockade in the Strait of
Hormuz, a key thoroughfare for the world’s oil.
Mr.
Trump, who often focuses on economic indicators like the stock market that have
very little impact on the bottom line for most Americans, has brushed off the pain
caused by his own policies with promises that it is temporary. During the event
on Monday, he sought to downplay the rising cost of energy, saying that it had been
projected to rise much more, and that he saw it “going down very substantially”
soon.
But
for Americans, relief remained out of reach. The average cost of a gallon of gas
topped $4.45 nationwide, according to AAA, marking an increase of more than a dollar
compared with last year. Soaring even higher was the cost of diesel, which shot
above $5.64 a gallon, or a roughly $2 increase from this time in 2025. This increases
the cost of transporting products, which is likely to result in higher prices for
consumers.
Also
at Monday’s event, Mr. Trump offered a new defense of
one of his most consequential policies, slashing the federal work force, which resulted
in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He boasted that private sector jobs
had been created in their place, and suggested that federal workers were grateful
to him for firing them.
“And
I feel sorry for everyone, you know, it’s a hard thing to do,” he said. “Many of
those people voted for me, but now they like me because they went out, they got
private sector jobs that they like better and is paying them sometimes two or three
times more money.”
With
the midterm elections just months away, Mr. Trump has struggled to hone an economic
message, despite pleas from Republicans to focus on how his policies are improving
the lives of everyday Americans and pledges from his aides that he would travel
the country doing just that.
Mr.
Trump has faced accusations from some in his “America First” base that he is too
focused on foreign policy and global conflicts and not enough on the kitchen-table
issues that he campaigned on addressing, such as the cost of living and grocery
and gas prices.
But
delivering a focused message on the economy is not much in Mr. Trump’s style.
During
the more than one-hour speech on Monday, Mr. Trump veered off into other topics,
including criticizing former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., boasting about passing
cognitive tests and complaining about polls and media coverage. He also offered
a lengthy account of how he had decided to renovate the reflecting pool at the
National Mall.
The
event featured other speakers who praised Mr. Trump, including Rick Harrison of
the reality television show “Pawn Stars” and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who
praised his popularity in Venezuela after the United States removed its president.
Last
Friday, Mr. Trump delivered another economic speech at The Villages in Florida,
where he was billed to speak about how his tax and domestic policy legislation would
help older Americans who may be relying on Social Security.
But
for much of the roughly 1.5-hour speech, Mr. Trump’s tax policies seemed to be an
afterthought.
Standing
in front of hundreds from a retirement community in a school gymnasium, Mr. Trump
criticized the staff of the event for not ensuring his microphone volume was loud
enough. He launched into a xenophobic tirade against the Somali community in the
United States, mocked a transgender weight lifter and brought Dr. Phil McGraw, the
talk show host, onstage to speak.
He
blamed his predecessors for high prices and inflation, and once again dismissed
the issue of affordability, which he has called a “hoax.”
“And
the Democrats start screaming, ‘affordability, affordability’ — they’re the ones
that caused the problem,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr.
Trump did touch on his domestic policies, pledging to defend Social Security and
Medicare. But he also acknowledged that those issues did not have his full attention.
He assured the crowd of supporters that Dr. Mehmet Oz, Mr. Trump’s administrator
of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, knew
more about “Medicaid, Medicare, medical crap than any human being.”
Mr.
Trump said Dr. Oz was telling him about the programs on the way to The Villages,
making it “the most boring trip I’ve ever made.”
“I
said, ‘You work out the details,’ but I did say, ‘Give them the max,’” Mr. Trump
said. “That’s all I care about.”