One Year Of Failed Promises: How Trump’s Policies Are Raising Costs, Ripping Away Health Care, And Destroying The Economy

NYT: Despite Trump's Claims, Grocery Prices Are Rising

WaPo: Trump's Promised Manufacturing Boom Is A Bust So Far

The Guardian: How Trump's Promise To Slash Energy Bills In Half Has Failed Across The US

USA Today: Trump Has Largely Fallen Short On Economic Promises, Stats Show

One year after President Trump took office, his promises to lower costs on day one, "make America affordable again" and slash electricity bills have gone unfulfilled. While millions of Americans have lost their health care because of Trump and Republicans' disastrous "Big, Ugly Bill" and refusal to extend ACA tax credits, everyday Americans are struggling to make ends meet as Trump's tariffs raise costs on groceries and household goods and rent and energy prices skyrocket. Read how Trump's disastrous first year has impacted Americans across the country:

Trump promised "to quickly defeat inflation and make America affordable again."

WSJ: It's Trump's Economy, and Voters Are Unhappy With It, WSJ Poll Finds. "It's President Trump's economy now, and voters are increasingly unhappy with how he's handling it. By 15 percentage points, more voters rate the economy as weak rather than strong, a deterioration from July, when negative views predominated by 4 points. About half of voters say the economy has gotten worse in the past year, compared with 35% who see improvement." … "Despite a recent flurry of affordability proposals from the president, more voters disapprove than approve of his handling of inflation-by 17 percentage points, a worse showing than the 11-point gap in July. By 10 percentage points, more voters disapprove than approve of his handling of the economy." [WSJ,1/16/26]

USA Today: Trump has largely fallen short on economic promises, stats show. "Taming the U.S. economy is easier said than done, President Donald Trump is learning. A year since his administration returned to the White House, almost every hardship that he broadly promised to fix during the presidential contest two years ago - halving energy costs, making housing affordable or ending inflation - either remains a problem or has gotten worse, economic indicators show."… "Importantly, rather than driving prices down, Trump's policies are keeping them higher than they would otherwise be, some economists say." [USA Today, 1/18/26]

Reuters: US Consumer Inflation Increases Steadily, But Households Paying More For Food And Rents. "U.S. consumer prices increased in December, lifted by higher costs for rents and food as some of the distortions related to the government shutdown that had artificially lowered inflation in November unwound, cementing expectations the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged this month." … "Nonetheless, expensive food, with prices increasing by the most in more than three years, and rents underscored the affordability crisis facing President Donald Trump, partly blamed by economists on the White House's policies, including sweeping import tariffs." [Reuters, 1/13/26]

CNN: Inflation Remained At 2.7% In December, As High Prices Continue To Weigh On Many Americans. "The latest Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices for some commonly purchased goods and services, showed that the annual pace of inflation was unchanged from November, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday. However, the monthly pace of inflation accelerated to 0.3% from November, when prices rose at an estimated average pace of 0.1% (an aftereffect of shutdown-distorted data). December's increase was driven by persistent housing-related inflation alongside sharply rising food prices (up 0.7% from the month before) and higher energy prices (up 0.3%)." [CNN, 1/13/26]

Trump promised "better healthcare for less money."

MS Now: 'Crushing' Health Care Choice: College For One Child Or Insulin For Another. "Teresa Acosta had been anxiously bracing for her health insurance bill. She was expecting to pay twice as much, maybe more, because of expiring subsidies. But she was floored by what her January statement reflected: a whopping 620% increase on her monthly premium. "I had heard a lot of people saying, 'Oh, it's gonna double or triple premiums,'" said Acosta, a single mother of three. "No. Mine increased seven times over." Acosta, 49, got her January notice just days before Christmas, leaving her with $74 in her bank account." [MS Now, 1/15/26]

Reuters: Most Obamacare enrollment closes leaving Americans with higher bills or less health insurance. "Millions of Americans are facing higher healthcare costs in 2026 as open enrollment for most federally subsidized Obamacare plans closes on Thursday and Congress remains divided on whether and how it should reinstate generous COVID-era tax credits. In 2025, about 24 million people were enrolled in the plans, created by President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act. Of them, about 22 million received subsidies." [Reuters, 1/15/26]

CBS News: Some Americans say they'll go without health insurance as ACA rates spike. "When Kassidy Hooter learned in December how much her health insurance costs were going to rise this year, she went into panic mode. The Shreveport, Louisiana, resident and mother of three knew she urgently needed care - Hooter is in the final trimester of a high-risk pregnancy. But the family could no longer afford their Affordable Care Act plan coverage now that a federal tax subsidy was lapsing on Dec. 31, 2025, meaning they would face thousands of dollars in additional out-of-pocket costs." … "Plantation, Florida, resident Stacy Kanas, whose family also received an ACA tax credit, is now considering going without health insurance after realizing that her monthly premium to cover her and her husband would rise to $2,500 - more than double what she was paying last year to cover both of them plus her 20-year-old daughter." [CBS News, 1/12/26]

NYT: Initial Obamacare Enrollment Drops by 1.4 Million. "About 1.4 million fewer people have enrolled in Obamacare coverage this year in the face of soaring premiums, according to an early report, following the expiration of the enhanced subsidies that helped lower the cost of health insurance for millions of Americans. Numbers published by the federal government on Monday indicated that 22.8 million Americans had enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans starting Jan. 1, down from 24.2 million enrolled through the end of the sign-up period last year. They are the first official figures showing the effects of the change in policy." [NYT, 1/13/26]

Trump promised "prices on electricity and everything else will fall dramatically."

The Guardian: How Trump's Promise To Slash Energy Bills In Half Has Failed Across The US. "Donald Trump has comprehensively failed to meet a key election promise to slash Americans' energy bills in half within the first year of his presidency, with power prices instead surging across the US. The average household electricity bill in the US was 6.7% more expensive in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to a Guardian analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy's statistical arm. The increases meant that, on average, US households paid nearly $116 more across 2025 than they did in 2024." [The Guardian, 1/17/26]

NYT: Despite Trump's Claims, Grocery Prices Are Rising. "Days away from the first anniversary of President Trump's second term in office, grocery prices are still rising, undercutting his administration's rhetoric about how it is making life more affordable for average Americans. The price of beef has risen 16.4 percent over the last year. The price of coffee is up a whopping 19.8 percent. The price of lettuce is up 7.3 percent and frozen fish 8.6 percent." [NYT, 1/14/26]

WaPo: Parents Are Cutting Back On Child Care As Costs Stretch Budgets. "The lack of affordable child care is creating significant hardships for many families, new research finds, with 1 in 5 households reporting having to cut back on coverage or resort to less desirable alternatives. The high price of day care is well known: In dozens of states, the cost of day care is higher than in-state college tuition and fees, according to the advocacy group Zero to Three." [WaPo, 1/14/26]

CBS News: Chew On This: U.S. Food Prices Are Up 19% Since 2022. "Although inflation has cooled markedly since U.S. prices surged during the pandemic, high food costs continue to give consumers a stomachache. Food prices, which outpaced overall inflation for much of last year, rose in December at an annual rate of 3.1%. That remains significantly above the 2.7% for all goods, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data. On a monthly basis, food prices rose 0.7% last month - the largest jump since September 2022." [CBS News, 1/15/26]

Axios: Grocery Prices See Biggest Spike Since 2022 In December. "Grocery prices rose at the fastest pace in three years, keeping pressure on household budgets even as overall inflation held steady in December. Why it matters: The jump in costs highlights the challenge for the White House in the lead-up to midterm elections. Broad inflation relief is little consolation for Americans if they aren't seeing it reflected in grocery bills. By the numbers: Grocery prices (or "food at home," as the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls it) rose by 0.7% in December, the largest monthly gain since the peak inflation period in August 2022."[Axios, 1/13/26]

NBC News: The Rising Cost Of Basic Necessities Could Widen The Gap Between The Well-Off And Everyone Else. "The price of household necessities rose in December over the previous month, even as inflation overall held steady. The result is that price pressures were unevenly distributed across income groups, with lower-income people particularly affected." … "Grocery prices rose broadly in December, with five major food categories posting increases, while dining out also became more expensive." [NBC News, 1/14/26]

Trump promised "jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country."

WSJ: Job Gains Cooled In December, Capping Year Of Weak Hiring. "American employers added jobs at a subdued pace in December, capping a year in which the U.S. labor market lost considerable momentum. Outside of the two most recent recessions, 2025 saw the lowest pace of average monthly job growth since 2003." [WSJ, 1/9/26]

Reuters: US Factory Headcount Falling Despite Trump's Promised Manufacturing Boom. "U.S. manufacturing jobs in December continued an eight-month skid that began last spring after President Donald Trump rolled out aggressive import taxes that he pledged would lead to a resurgence of blue-collar jobs by reshuffling world trade to favor U.S. workers."… "The pace of job creation in the first year of Trump's second term has fallen more than two-thirds from what it was in the final year under President Joe Biden, to an estimated 49,000 per month in 2025 versus 168,000 per month the prior year." [Reuters, 1/9/26]

WaPo: Trump's Promised Manufacturing Boom Is A Bust So Far. "Introducing the highest U.S. tariffs since the Great Depression, President Donald Trump made a clear promise in the spring: 'Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.' They haven't. Manufacturing employment has declined every month since Trump declared 'Liberation Day' in April, saying his widespread tariffs would begin to rebalance global trade in favor of American workers. U.S. factories employ 12.7 million people today, 72,000 fewer than when Trump made his Rose Garden announcement. The trade measures that the president said would spur manufacturing have instead hampered it, according to most mainstream economists. [WaPo, 1/15/26]

###