LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump took his economic message on the road, traveling to Georgia yesterday in his latest stop pitching the economy to voters. NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben reports he loudly promoted tariffs, a policy that half the country says is hurting them.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Trump has been giving a series of speeches meant to show that he's working to ease the high cost of living. In this speech, he declared victory over it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Do you notice, what word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I've won. I've won affordability. I had to go out and talk about it.
KURTZLEBEN: At a steel manufacturer in Rome, Georgia, Trump both talked affordability and touted his tariff policies, setting up conflicting messages, given that studies show U.S. consumers and businesses are overwhelmingly paying the tariffs. Trump talked about how his tariffs helped this manufacturer in particular.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: I imposed powerful 50% tariffs on foreign steel, where they were coming in and dumping crap all over our country. I ended every one of the Biden-era exemptions. And on August 18, I added new tariffs to cover 400 derivative products, including steel racks, which is what you make.
KURTZLEBEN: But that message might not fly everywhere. Half of Americans, including around 2 in 10 Republicans, say they think Trump's tariffs affect themselves and their families mostly negatively, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Trump is nevertheless committed to his signature economic policy and seems nervous about how the Supreme Court will rule on it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: And to think I have to be in the United States Supreme Court for many, many months, waiting for a decision on tariffs.
KURTZLEBEN: The Supreme Court is set to rule on many of Trump's tariffs any day now. For the most part, the speech was a replay of Trump's greatest hits. He repeated baseless claims of election fraud. He promoted Republicans and slammed Democrats, calling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries low IQ. And he promised that the economy is only going to get better.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: We brought back the American dream, and we have a country, I think, that within the next 12 months, maybe sooner, but within the next 12 months, going to be the greatest it's ever been.
KURTZLEBEN: But Trump had little to say about further cost-lowering policies he has floated, like a cap on credit card interest rates. So while he promised an improving economy, he didn't say exactly how that will happen.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
