Trump has insisted prices are “way down.” They are not. Ground beef is up 17.2% from a year ago. Coffee has jumped 18.3%. Orange juice has risen 28% since he took office. Eggs are cheaper than during the bird flu peak. That is the win column. One item.
Energy tells the same story. Household energy prices are up 6.2% year over year. Electricity prices rose at more than twice the overall inflation rate in 2025, the fastest increase in over a decade. Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. They went up instead.
Now add Iran. The strikes that began in late February sent gas prices up 19% in a single month, pushing the national average to roughly $3.45. Analysts warn that if oil prices stay elevated, inflation could climb back toward 3% by year’s end. Trump closed his campaign by hammering Biden on gas prices. His own war did what Biden never could. It sent gas prices spiking.
Then there are the tariffs. Trump sold them as both punishment for foreign competitors and relief for American consumers. It was always a contradiction. It delivered on neither.
Estimates from the Yale Budget Lab show tariffs cost the average household between $1,300 and $1,700 in 2026 compared to a pre-Trump baseline. Many economists say inflation would likely be at the Fed’s 2% target if not for those tariffs. When the Supreme Court struck them down last month as unconstitutional, Trump reimposed new ones within hours.
