Trump Softens Tone on Inflation After Pledging to Lower Prices

President Trump promised voters that, if elected, he would enact policies that would bring prices down on “Day 1” in office.But three weeks into his term, Mr.Trump and White House officials have become more measured in how they discuss their efforts to tame inflation.

They have begun downplaying the likelihood that consumer costs like groceries will decline anytime soon, reflecting the limited power that presidents have to control prices.Those are largely determined by global economic forces.The shifting tone could allow Mr.

Trump to reset expectations about how fast prices will come down as he pursues policies like tariffs and tax cuts, which economists say could exacerbate inflation.Mr.Trump and his advisers believe that expanding American energy production and rolling back regulations will reduce costs.

They also argue that some of Mr.Trump’s tax proposals, such as eliminating taxes on overtime, would curb inflation by giving workers more incentives to work longer hours, therefore expanding the labor force.But in an interview this week, Mr.

Trump demurred when pressed about when families struggling with high prices would start to feel some relief.He suggested that his policies would make America a rich country, which would reduce the burden on consumers by, in theory, increasing their earnings.“I think we’re going to become a rich — look, we’re not that rich right now,” Mr.

Trump said on Fox News.“We owe $36 trillion.

That’s because we let all these nations take advantage of us.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....