President Donald Trump said at the Republican Party’s mid-term convention in Dallas on Sept. 9 that claims that the nation is facing an affordability crisis were a hoax. Two days later, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a monthly report showing that inflation was 3.4% for the past year and that fuel oil prices are up more than 50%.
“They used the word affordability. Right? It’s fake. They are so fake, because it was them that caused the affordability, to use their word, crisis,” Trump said in a speech. “And I’m bringing the prices way down, way, way down. They caused the price, but we’re fixing it. We’re fixing it.”
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would immediately end inflation and lower consumer prices if returned to the White House.
“We have an inflation crisis that is making life unaffordable, ravaging the incomes of working and low-income families, and crushing our people,” he said in his 2024 Republican National Convention nomination acceptance speech, according to a transcript published by NBC News. “I will end the devastating Inflation Crisis immediately, bring down interest rates, and lower the cost of energy—we will drill, baby, drill, which will lead to a large-scale decline in prices.”
Instead, Trump imposed tariffs in 2025 on most imported goods and services, which caused higher retail prices.
In February, Trump launched military attacks on Iran. Iran responded by blocking oil tankers and other ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, a key passageway used to transport exported goods from the Middle East, leading to higher gasoline prices in the United States.
According to AAA data, the national average price of a gallon of gasoline on Sept. 14 was more than $4.31, compared to $3.12 on the day Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, an increase of more than 38%.
“As the President has repeatedly noted, the hoax is Democrats trying to pounce on inflation despite creating this mess in the first place by abetting Joe Biden’s generational inflation crisis,” a White House spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Putting an end to Joe Biden’s inflation crisis has been a Day One priority for President Trump, and the August CPI report reinforces how the Trump administration’s targeted policy interventions are delivering with dramatic month-over-month price reductions for beef, prescription drugs, and car insurance. These policies are having a lasting impact for everyday Americans, and the President remains committed to delivering more economic relief as energy supplies increase and markets stabilize.”
A Harris Poll, conducted for the Guardian and released in July, found that 95% of Americans think the nation is experiencing an affordability crisis, and 57% believe the economy is getting worse.
