He says he stopped inflation, except he didn't
A congressional report published January 20 further undercut Donald Trump’s claim that he has defeated inflation, estimating
that the average American family paid $1,625 in higher costs last year as the
Republican president’s tariffs and
broader policy agenda drove up prices across the nation’s economy.
The new analysis by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that the $1,625 total includes $323 more for housing expenses and $241 more for transportation costs.
In some states—including Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York—the
average family paid more than $2,000 in higher costs in 2025 as prices
for groceries, housing, and other necessities continued to rise
under Trump’s leadership.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the ranking member of the JEC,
said in a statement that “President Trump has imposed reckless tariffs, driven
up healthcare costs,
and created economic uncertainty. And because of these choices that he made,
Americans are paying over $1,600 more than when he came into office.”
“While the president pledged that he would end inflation and
now claims that prices are down,” Hassan added, “the data reflects what
families are experiencing every day: higher costs that make it harder to make
ends meet.”
The JEC report was released just weeks after Trump falsely proclaimed in a year-end address to the nation that “inflation is stopped” and “prices are down.”
CNN fact checker Daniel Dale noted that inflation data released on the morning of Trump’s December 17 speech showed that “average consumer prices were 2.7% higher in December than they were a year prior and 0.3% higher than they were in November.”
Trump also used his primetime speech to hail the supposed
successes of his tariff regime. But a report released Monday showed that US consumers and
businesses, not foreign exporters, are shouldering nearly all of the burden of
the White House’s import taxes.
“Despite President Trump’s claims that 2025 was the ‘greatest first year in history’ for an American president,
Americans’ attitudes about their economic security and the latest
economic data say otherwise,” experts at the Center for American Progress wrote Tuesday. “With increased costs of everyday items
due to tariffs and fewer job opportunities, families are feeling the direct
impacts of the Trump administration’s harmful economic policies.”
