Throughout his 2024 marketing campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly blamed then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris for inflation. Harris fought again, warning that the aggressive tariffs Trump was proposing would make inflation a lot worse if he gained the election.
However Trump narrowly gained the election, defeating Democratic nominee Harris by roughly 1.5 p.c within the standard vote (in accordance with Cook dinner Political Report) and returning to the White Home on January 20, 2025.
President Trump has been again in workplace for eight days, and Washington Submit opinion columnist Catherine Rampell argues that throughout the first week of his second time period, he provided “zero plans” for “slicing costs.”
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In her January 28 column, Rampell writes, “Donald Trump has formally deserted his promise to repair inflation. Perhaps he by no means supposed to repair it in any respect. The president was elected with a mandate to scale back costs, having promised that he’d decrease the prices of on a regular basis objects equivalent to eggs and bacon on Day 1. But per week into workplace, he has provided zero plans to take action.”
Rampell provides, “At greatest, he has ordered his underlings to brainstorm ideas of a plan for slicing costs — after which report again in a month.”
“Ideas of a plan” is a phrase that Trump famously used throughout his sole presidential debate with Harris in 2024. When Democratic rival Harris attacked him for eager to overturn the Reasonably priced Care Act of 2010, a.ok.a. Obamacare, with out having a concrete various, Trump mentioned he had “ideas of a plan.”
Rampell warns that though “reducing costs” wasn’t a precedence for Trump throughout his first week again in workplace, he has “undertaken a litany of measures that will increase the price of dwelling” — together with tariffs.
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“Markets breathed a sigh of reduction when new tariffs didn’t materialize on Trump’s first day in workplace,” Rampell observes. “However a spat with Colombia over the weekend led him to threaten 25 p.c tariffs on Colombian merchandise, jolting espresso costs to document highs…. In the meantime, on Friday, Trump’s U.S. Commerce Consultant started making ready paperwork to impose broad tariffs on China.”
The Submit columnist continues, “Trump’s aides are additionally agitating to impose 25 p.c tariffs on Mexico and Canada as quickly as this Saturday. Opposite to Trump’s claims that solely foreigners would endure from these duties, these commerce wars would increase U.S. costs on all the pieces from tomatoes to cars to lumber to gasoline and pure gasoline.”
Rampell notes that “egg costs have additionally reached document highs” throughout Trump’s second presidency.
“To make sure,” the columnist argues, “Trump did not trigger chickens to fall unwell…. However Trump’s actions aren’t precisely serving to. He has shut down exterior communications from U.S. public well being businesses, resulting in uncertainty about what sorts of updates on hen flu civil servants are even allowed to publicly disclose.”
Trump’s “immigration raids,” in accordance with Rampell, may additionally improve meals costs.
“As I’ve mentioned many instances earlier than,” she observes, “there isn’t a lot presidents can do to scale back inflation, no matter their guarantees. However there’s so much they will do to make issues worse.”
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Catherine Rampell’s full Washington Submit column is obtainable at this hyperlink (subscription required).
