Trump scraps tariffs on some foods as consumers deal with high grocery store prices<\/a>]<\/p>\nBut those are largely \u201cgimmicky\u201d moves unlikely to move the needle much on inflation, said Bharat Ramamurti, a former deputy director of Biden\u2019s National Economic Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re in this very tough position where they\u2019ve 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,\u201d Ramamurti said.<\/p>\n
Ramamurti said the Biden administration learned the hard way that voters are not appeased by a president saying his policies would ultimately cause their incomes to rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat argument does not resonate,\u201d he said. \u201dTake it from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
How inflation hit Biden\u2019s presidency<\/p>\n
Biden inherited an economy trying to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, which had shut down schools and offices, causing mass layoffs and historic levels of government borrowing. In March 2021, he signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package. Critics said that was excessive and could cause prices to rise.<\/p>\n
As the economy reopened, there were shortages of computer chips, kitchen appliances, autos and even furniture. Cargo ships were stuck waiting to dock at ports, creating supply chain issues. Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 pushed up energy and food costs, and the increase in consumer prices hit a four-decade high that June. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rates to cool inflation.<\/p>\n
Biden tried to convince Americans that the economy was strong. \u201cBidenomics is working,\u201d Biden said in a 2023 speech. \u201cToday, the U.S. has had the highest economic growth rate, leading the world economies since the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
His arguments did little to sway voters as only 36% of U.S. adults in August 2023 approved of his handling of the economy, according to a poll at the time by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Y4O5ZEBDXCTA7T6WLYS5JS3E3U.jpg\")
FILE – President Joe Biden speaks about the economy at Prince George’s Community College, Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 14, 2023, in Largo, Md. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, File) Trump might be his own worst enemy on inflation<\/p>\n
Republicans made the case that Biden\u2019s policies made inflation worse. Democrats are using that same framing against Trump today.<\/p>\n
Here is their argument: Trump\u2019s tariffs are getting passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices; his cancellation of clean energy projects means there will be fewer new sources of electricity as utility bills climb; his mass deportations made it costlier for the immigrant-heavy construction sector to build houses.<\/p>\n
Biden administration officials note that Trump came into office with strong growth, a solid job market and inflation declining close to historic levels, only for him to reverse those trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s striking how many Americans are aware of his trade policy and rightly blame the turnaround in prices on that erratic policy,\u201d said Gene Sperling, a senior Biden adviser who also led the National Economic Council in the Obama and Clinton administrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is in a tough trap of his own doing \u2014 and it\u2019s not likely to get easier,\u201d Sperling said.<\/p>\n
Consumer prices had been increasing at an annual rate of 2.3% in April when Trump launched his tariffs, and that rate accelerated to 3% in September.<\/p>\n
The inflationary surge has been less than what voters endured under Biden, but the political fallout so far appears to be similar: 67% of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump\u2019s performance, according to November polling data from AP-NORC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn both instances, the president caused a non-trivial share of the inflation,\u201d said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank. \u201cI think President Biden didn\u2019t take this concern seriously enough in his first few months in office and President Trump isn\u2019t taking this concern seriously enough right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/XMCFNT4CPBLAO5OKID7LLK2CDQ.jpg\")
FILE – President Donald Trump listens as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a visit to the Federal Reserve, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) <\/p>\n
Strain noted that the two presidents have even responded to the dilemma in \u201cweirdly, eerily similar ways\u201d by playing down inflation as a problem, pointing to other economic indicators and looking to address concerns by issuing government checks.<\/p>\n
White House bets its policies can tame inflation<\/p>\n
Trump officials have made the case that their mix of income tax cuts, foreign investment frameworks tied to tariffs and changes in enforcing regulations will lead to more factories and jobs. All of that, they say, could increase the supply of goods and services and reduce the forces driving inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policies that we\u2019re pursuing right now are increasing supply,\u201d Kevin Hassett, director of Trump\u2019s National Economic Council, told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Fed has cut its benchmark interest rates, which could increase the supply of money in the economy for investment. But the central bank has done so because of a weakening job market despite inflation being above its 2% target, and there are concerns that rate cuts of the size Trump wants could fuel more inflation.<\/p>\n
Time might not be on Trump\u2019s side<\/p>\n
It takes time for consumer sentiment to improve after the inflation rate drops, according to research done by Ryan Cummings, an economist who worked on Biden\u2019s Council of Economic Advisers.<\/p>\n
His read of the University of Michigan\u2019s index of consumer sentiment is that the effects of the postpandemic rise in inflation are no longer a driving factor. These days, voters are frustrated because Trump had primed them to believe he could lower grocery prices and other expenses, but has failed to deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to structural affordability issues \u2014 housing, child care, education, and health care \u2014 Trump has pushed in the wrong direction in each one,\u201d said Cummings, who is now chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.<\/p>\n
He said Trump\u2019s best chance of beating inflation now might be \u201cif he gets a very lucky break on commodity prices\u201d through a bumper harvest worldwide and oil production continuing to run ahead of demand.<\/p>\n
For now, Trump has decided to continue to rely on attacking Biden for anything that has gone wrong in the economy, as he did on Monday in an interview with Fox News\u2019 \u201cThe Ingraham Angle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem was that Biden did this,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE – President Donald Trump holds a chart as he discusses the economy in the Oval Office of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[124205,28,101],"class_list":["post-296352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bidenomics","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/QPUSZBJRJLQGJRM2OJDAM4NHBM.jpg\")
FILE – President Donald Trump holds a chart as he discusses the economy in the Oval Office of the White House, Aug. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein, File) <\/p>\n