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5 Things Trump Claims Could Get Cheaper During His Presidency — But Will They?
President Trump ran for office on a platform that promised to lower prices for Americans struggling under the weight of inflation . Trump has made some big promises, including slashing energy prices in half, and pledging to reduce regulatory burdens and promote economic policies, such as discouraging imports through the use of tariffs, to “drive down the cost of living and prices for everyday goods and services,” including homes, education and healthcare.
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Now that some of those tariffs have come home to roost in the White House, Trump and his staff seem to be trying to temper expectations and even blaming the former Biden administration for the current economic state.
Obviously, many Americans still hold high hopes that Trump will deliver on his promises. With tariff turmoil in the air , many fear how grocery bills, car repairs or the general cost of living will go up. However, there are still a few things that could potentially get cheaper under Trump.
Energy
Energy prices could come down under Trump’s presidency. However, his — or any president’s — ability to directly affect energy prices is limited, at best.
The energy crisis has reached a critical point, with one in three households sacrificing necessities like groceries to keep the lights on, Arvin Ganesan, a global energy expert and CEO of Fourth Power, a thermal battery technology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told GOBankingRates. Ganesan said that Trump’s promise to halve electricity bills is a positive step, but achieving it will require a thorough reassessment of how the U.S. generates electricity.
Jacob Channel, LendingTree senior economist, agreed.
“Though he often touts a desire to ramp up domestic oil and gas production, such a goal is unlikely to actually reduce costs by 50%. This is especially true given that the U.S. is already producing more oil than it did at the end of Trump’s first term.”
So, what would it take? Dr. Tim Blessing, Ph.D., professor of history and political science at Alvernia University, believes the administration would have to undo the Biden administration’s sequestration of 625 million acres of oil-rich land.
“Trump can, on day one, sign an executive order [reversing] Biden’s executive order, but that will be the opening shot in what will be long and drawn-out court battles,” Blessing said.
Even if Trump ignores the order, which has happened in the past, oil companies are likely to hold off investing in these areas rather than involve themselves in the political and legal fight, Blessing noted.
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Groceries and Other Everyday Products
Trump’s pledge to reduce prices on groceries and other everyday products makes assumptions not only about energy prices, but on the impact of mass deportations and tariffs on imports as well. While it’s not clear how deportations would reduce inflation, Trump intends for tariffs to encourage domestic production of food and other goods, which he believes would bring down prices. However, it doesn’t seem to be going as planned.
In fact, many experts disagree that these measures will produce the results Trump is promoting.
“Despite some claims to the contrary, policies such as mass deportations and blanket tariffs will probably put upward pressure on prices,” Channel said.
“By their very nature, tariffs are designed to make importing goods more expensive for businesses. These higher costs are usually passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Because so many of the goods Americans buy rely, at least in part, on imports, the blanket tariffs that Trump is proposing are likely to send prices on everything from cars to computers higher.”
Channel also believes that mass deportations could make it more difficult for employers in immigrant-heavy industries like agriculture and construction to find workers.
“The more scarce workers become, the more expensive it will be for employers to properly staff themselves, and the more money they’ll have to charge in order to make up for higher labor costs,” Channel said.
Healthcare
Healthcare is an area that could see a reduction in prices if Trump is successful in his push to eliminate unnecessary regulation.
“ Healthcare costs can be quickly brought down ,” Blessing said. “It now takes about a billion dollars to bring a new drug to market on average. A huge amount of that goes to meeting governmental regulations, and there is enormous waste in the process.”
Blessing told GOBankingRates that the same thing is true for most medical institutions and categories.
“By simply changing the regulations and slimming the bureaucracy, you can substantially lower costs,” he said.
Housing
Trump’s policies on regulation and immigration could have mixed effects on housing costs.
On the one hand, reducing excessive regulation could result in lower home construction prices. Blessing told GOBankingRates that the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s bureaucracy is “bloated almost beyond belief” even by Washington, D.C., standards. Reducing that red tape could help moderate home prices.
But Trump’s platform, stating that illegal migrants have driven up home prices and that deporting these individuals would eliminate that pressure, is less realistic. Removing migrant workers from the construction industry could make building homes more expensive, and offset any financial benefit of increasing the inventory of available homes.
Education
Education is another area where the federal government can have a strong impact on prices.
Blessing noted that the federal funding of education comes with lots of strings attached, which makes it easy for an administration focused on changing education policy to get it done.
“Very few schools can ‘go it alone,’ so the education establishment is at the mercy of the federal government,” Blessing said.
Final Take To GO: What Changes Will Be Cheaper?
“I don’t expect much of anything to become consistently cheaper anytime soon,” said Michael Montgomery, a former U.S. diplomat specializing in economic and commercial affairs. Montgomery, whose Montgomery Consulting firm provides fundraising and economic development services to nonprofits, noted that the president-elect himself is backing away from his pledge to bring down grocery prices.
Channel is also incredulous but admits that the future isn’t set in stone.
“While most of Trump’s policies seem poised to raise prices and weaken the broader economy, there’s no guarantee that they actually will. In truth, we won’t know for certain what the future will bring until it has actually arrived.”
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : 5 Things Trump Claims Could Get Cheaper During His Presidency — But Will They?