Trump to tour PA promoting economic strategies amid affordability concerns

The White House is ratcheting up tensions over former President Joe Biden’s economic record as voters express dissatisfaction with the current cost-of-living woes that President Donald Trump campaigned to eliminate after the economic successes of his first term.

“Ending Joe Biden’s inflation and affordability crisis has been a Day One priority for President Trump,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital Monday morning when asked about the White House’s message on affordability.

“Every Trump administration official has been doing his part to deliver on this priority over the past year, from reducing costly regulations to securing historic drug pricing agreements — efforts that lower inflation and raise real wages,” he continued. “There is still much work to be done, but President Trump underscores the meaningful progress his administration has made and will continue to make to reverse Joe Biden’s economic disaster.”

While Democrats are increasingly and effectively turning to the “affordability” messaging that helped deliver a string of election victories during the November offseason, the Trump administration is facing a crisis over its economic messaging.

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Americans’ feelings of financial uncertainty come after Trump touted on the campaign trail that he would “rapidly” lower prices when he returns to the Oval Office after Biden’s term; Administration officials said the Trump economy experienced a “boom” in his second term as he embraced the economic gains.

In fact, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed months ago that the Trump economy was starting to hold on after the Biden administration’s increasing inflation problems.

“The Trump Economy has officially arrived,” Lutnick told X in July, pointing to the increase in GDP and Trump’s tariff policies.

“Biden’s first quarter is behind us and growth is already accelerating,” Lutnick wrote to X. “President Trump’s tariff policies have attracted historic investment and opened global markets for U.S. businesses. Congratulations, America: 3 percent today, and we’re just getting started.”

Asked about past comments as the White House pushes to promote the president’s economic record, a White House official said Monday: “Lutnick is not the president.”

United States Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick claimed in July that the Trump economy had officially arrived. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

While the administration has repeatedly taken victory laps for its economic gains this year, it has also taken shots at the Biden administration; including “The Economy is Back” celebrations in recent months Pursuit Under Presidency Trump said there was “explosive growth” In Trump’s Economy,“While the President underlines that the tariff policies are one”tremendous success.”

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in June: “President Trump’s America First Economic Agenda has created a THRIVING economy; jobs are up, unemployment is down, wages are rising, and inflation is dead. More than 139,000 good jobs were added to the private sector in May, all of them American-born workers. Americans must continue to have confidence in President Trump as he continues to exceed expectations.”

But voters reported feeling no financial relief.

Trump is set to travel to Pennsylvania on Tuesday, a key battleground state that gave him his 2024 victory, to promote his administration’s economic policies and growth amid voters reporting fiscal concerns.

The economy has been a cornerstone of Trump’s political tenure, including defending the gains of his first administration, such as record unemployment and gas prices falling below $2 per gallon.

But about 76% of voters reported a negative view of the economy, according to a November Fox News national poll. It was higher than the 67% who said the same in July and the 70% who said the same at the end of Biden’s term.

The poll found that voters overwhelmingly put Trump in charge of Biden. Nearly twice as many voters surveyed reported that Trump, rather than Biden, is responsible for the current economy; three times as many voters reported that Trump’s economic policies hurt them; That’s on par with Biden’s sentiments during his final year in office.

Trump’s messaging on affordability has evolved in recent years; The 2024 campaign touted the slogan “Make America Affordable Again,” and the president later complained in November that “affordability” should be a message embraced by Republicans, and then called Democratic messaging about affordability a “scam” in early December.

“You name it. Affordability. I inherited the worst inflation in history. There was no affordability. Nobody could afford anything. Prices were too high,” Trump said at the December Cabinet meeting.

“But the word affordability is a Democrat scam,” Trump continued.

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Now the White House is doubling down that the Biden economy is still strangling American budgets and that the Trump administration is working to fix the situation.

President Donald Trump has increased tensions over former President Joe Biden’s economic record while in office. (AP/Evan Vucci)

The White House told Fox Digital that since the campaign has moved toward the presidency, Trump has “consistently and accurately pointed out how Joe Biden has unleashed a generation-long economic disaster.”

“This undeniable fact hasn’t stopped Democrats from shamelessly trying to call out the affordability crisis they created in the first place,” Desai said. he said. “With inflation cooling and trillions of dollars of investment flowing in, President Trump’s agenda is indeed to deliver the economic growth that Americans enjoyed in his first term, and both he and the Administration will continue to highlight the work we have done to achieve that.”

A White House official added that the tax cuts will be felt by Americans early in the new year.

“We inherited a mess,” Trump said at a roundtable Monday. “Affordability. But you can call it affordability or whatever you want, but the Democrats are causing the affordability problem and we’re the ones who fixed it. So that’s a very simple statement. And they caused it and we’re fixing it.”

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, October 10, 2025, in Washington DC, United States, to announce a deal with AstraZeneca Plc to lower consumer prices for some of the company’s drugs. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The Biden administration has seen the highest inflation to rock the country in 40 years, 30-year mortgage rates soaring from roughly 3 percent in 2021 to around 7-8 percent in 2023, and the sharpest rise in interest rates in decades.

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During the 2024 federal election, voters cited the economy as the most important issue. A year ago, Americans went to the polls with their wallets in mind and voted for Trump because a majority of voters said they were worried they would not be able to afford food, healthcare, housing or gas for their cars. Fox News Voter Analysis the data showed.