Trump says costs are ‘way down’ for Americans—what the data shows
President Donald Trump continues to trumpet his economic achievements and self-assessed progress on affordability—even as polls and data on prices paint a more mixed picture of this record.
During a Wednesday night speech in Nevada—part of a two-state trip the White House told Newsweek was intended to highlight his economic accomplishments—Trump proclaimed that costs for a variety of goods and services had come “way down” on his watch.
“The cost of rent, groceries, and other staples is coming down very fast. Our costs are coming way down. You know, they talk about affordability. I took over the country. The prices were through the roof,” the president told the crowd at Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Las Vegas.
Newsweek contacted the White House via email outside of regular hours for comment.
Trump Gives Himself ‘A+’ on the Economy
“We’ve been bringing down prices. And as soon as this situation ends with Iran, oil is going to go down to the floor,” Trump said on Wednesday. “Gasoline’s going to go down. And we will have completed something in a short period of time that is a miracle. But remember, we inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country.”
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump again said that costs were “coming way down.”
“They’re all coming down now—the food, the groceries—it’s all coming down,” he continued, while arguing that his record on employment and the successes of the U.S. stock market had earned him an “A+” on the economy.
However, the president acknowledged that his own assessment clashes with the prevailing perceptions of his economic stewardship—“I read we’re doing badly on the economy”—and polls continue to show dwindling approval of this aspect of his domestic agenda.
A YouGov/Economist poll—fielded July 31 to August 3 among 1,609 U.S. adults—found that only 30 percent approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, with 65 percent disapproving for a net rating of negative 35. This compares to a net approval of negative 21 in the same pollsters’ early January survey, and mirrors results in surveys from Fox News, CNN/SSRS and AP-NORC, among others, in recent weeks.
Are Costs ‘Way Down’?
According to the latest inflation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), consumer prices declined 0.4 percent month-over-month in June, but were up 3.5 percent over the previous year. This marks a slowdown from an annual headline rate of 4.2 percent in May—the fastest pace in three years—driven largely by the impact of Iran war-related supply constraints on global and domestic costs.
June’s monthly decline was thanks to a sharp drop in energy costs, which a breakdown in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran and another spike in gas prices seems poised to partially erase in the next report. And BLS data reveals that prices across the majority of categories have increased over the previous 12 months, many by double digit percentages.
Energy costs remain a major driver of elevated expenses, impacting both direct commuting and travel, with gasoline and airline fares up 27 percent, while electricity and piped gas have seen smaller gains of 4 and 3 percent, respectively.
As Trump points out, egg prices have come down dramatically after spiking to record highs in early 2025 on the back of avian flu outbreaks. Overall food prices, however, have risen 3 percent over the 12 months which ended in June.
The food at home category—prices paid for groceries—is up 2.7 percent on an annual basis, with many items seeing far higher increases. This includes fish and seafood (+6.3 percent), beef (+12 percent), fresh vegetables (+9.9 percent) and coffee (+13 percent).
And while policymakers have made tackling inflation a key priority in 2026, forecasts suggest that consumer prices are broadly set to increase over the coming months and years.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) points to a 3.4 percent increase in food prices in 2026, with grocery costs expected to climb 3.2 percent and certain categories—such as beef, vegetables and nonalcoholic drinks—experiencing even faster hikes.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Matthew Robinson and Robert Greenall
