Facing pressure to address the economic fallout of his war in Iran, President Trump on Monday sought to portray his policy wins for small businesses as evidence that he was succeeding in building up the economy.<\/p>\n
Speaking to business leaders from across the country at an event in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Trump declared that slashing taxes and regulations had yielded \u201crecord business,\u201d and that the economy was \u201croaring.\u201d The White House described the Small Business Week event as highlighting \u201cthe extraordinary revival of Main Street under his America First agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
But looming over it all was a war abroad that Mr. Trump had begun, and whose economic impact is compounding cost-of-living concerns among Americans, many of whom increasingly say their economic reality<\/a> has worsened under his tenure.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump\u2019s comments on Monday created a sharp contrast with the economic reality outside Washington, as rising energy prices hammer families and businesses alike.<\/p>\n With talks between the United States and Iran at a standstill, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, reached about $114 per barrel by Monday evening. The spike came at a moment of great uncertainty about the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key thoroughfare for the world\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump, who often focuses on economic indicators like the stock market that have very little impact on the bottom line for most Americans, has brushed off the pain caused by his own policies with promises that it is temporary. During the event on Monday, he sought to downplay the rising cost of energy, saying that it had been projected to rise much more, and that he saw it \u201cgoing down very substantially\u201d soon.<\/p>\n But for Americans, relief remained out of reach. The average cost of a gallon of gas topped $4.45 nationwide, according to AAA, marking an increase of more than a dollar compared with last year. Soaring even higher was the cost of diesel, which shot above $5.64 a gallon, or a roughly $2 increase from this time in 2025. This increases the cost of transporting products<\/a>, which is likely to result in higher prices for consumers.<\/p>\n Also at Monday\u2019s event, Mr. Trump offered a new defense of one of his most consequential policies, slashing the federal work force<\/a>, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He boasted that private sector jobs had been created in their place, and suggested that federal workers were grateful to him for firing them.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I feel sorry for everyone, you know, it\u2019s a hard thing to do,\u201d he said. \u201cMany of those people voted for me, but now they like me because they went out, they got private sector jobs that they like better and is paying them sometimes two or three times more money.\u201d<\/p>\n With the midterm elections just months away, Mr. Trump has struggled to hone an economic message, despite pleas from Republicans to focus on how his policies are improving the lives of everyday Americans and pledges from his aides that he would travel the country doing just that.<\/p>\n