President Donald Trump's second-term policies have accelerated inflation rather than curbing it, according to reporting from the Guardian. Despite campaigning on a pledge to slash prices on his first day back in office, Trump has pursued trade wars and foreign policy moves that economists say inherently raise costs for American consumers. The Guardian reported that Trump's "liberation day" tariffs, imposed shortly after his return to the White House, increased prices on hundreds of goods including citrus fruits, steel, bananas, beef and auto parts. When the Supreme Court struck down those tariffs as illegal, the administration responded with new 10% across-the-board levies that again pushed prices higher. A lower court subsequently found those replacement tariffs unlawful as well. Tariffs function as a tax on imported goods, a fact that economists repeatedly warned would fuel inflation. Yet Trump has enthusiastically embraced them throughout his second term. The Guardian noted that this approach helps explain why more than one in five Americans who voted for Trump now disapprove of his job performance. A Fox News poll this month found 77% of Americans disapprove of his handling of tariffs specifically.
Source: The Guardian.
