'Prices are still going up': Economic investor destroys Trump’s 'loose relationship with the facts'

Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner disassembled many of President Donald Trump’s claims on his economy, namely that grocery prices exploded under Biden, the nation is now drilling more oil than ever and his boast to have cut the nation’s trade deficit in half.

“Well, as usual, there's a lot to unpack here,” said Rattner, of Trump’s Sunday interview with Kristen Welker on 'Meet the Press'. “Donald Trump has a loose relationship with the facts. So, let's talk about prices. First of all, [U.S] prices are still going up. If you look at … all items together in the consumer price index, you'll see that they rose by 0.6 percent of a percent in the first three months of the Trump administration, compared to 0.9 percent under the Biden administration. A little bit slower, but still significant price increases. Groceries went up faster under Trump than under Biden by 1.0 percent in that quarter, which is close to a 4 percent annual rate, 0.8. percent under Biden.

He added that Americans were likely feeling the difference at grocery stores and may not be taking Trump’s claims as granted.

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“Notwithstanding trump's exhortations … the public isn't really buying it. Inflationary expectations on the part of consumers have gone up enormously. They were 2.8 percent back in December, and now they're 6.5 percent. And sometimes perception becomes reality. And so, this is a dangerous thing [for him] as well,” said Rattner.

Rattner also disputed Trump’s claim that oil prices are low because in his administration “we drill, baby drill.”

“Gasoline prices … are down for two reasons: One, because OPEC (an oil network containing Saudi Arabia, Russia and others) is pumping more oil which brings prices down. And secondly, because when the oil market perceives that the economy — and the biggest economy, ours — is weakening, then they expect demand to fall and prices start to fall,” said Rattner, who is also an investor. “And the next thing that happens is people drill less oil, because if they don't think they're going to get the same price for their oil, they're going to drill less oil. So, this notion that ‘drill, baby drill’ has created a whole upsurge in drilling activity is absolutely counter to the facts.”

Rattner also shattered Trump’s claim that the U.S. lost “$5 billion” every day under Biden’s trade deficit.

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“He keeps saying we lost $5 billion a day. If I go downstairs and I buy a Morning Joe t-shirt for $20, and I get a t-shirt, have I lost money? No, I've gotten something back for my money. And that, in effect, is what we're doing. We're buying stuff from overseas. There are issues there, but it's not like we're just handing the Chinese $5 billion a day.”

Five billion isn’t even the correct number, Rattner added: “In 2024, the trade deficit equaled $2.5 billion a day. So less than half of what Trump claimed Biden had done.”

Here's the Biden period here. Look what's happened under Trump. The trade deficit has soared, soared, soared soared … and the result is now the trade deficit is about $5 billion a day. But he got the president wrong. That was under President Trump, not under Biden.”

See the full Morning Joe clip below or at this link.