In an interview published on Sunday, February 8, President Donald Trump offered a positive assessment of the state of the economy under his leadership. According to him, the country has already reached the required level. “I would say we’re already there. I’m very proud of it,” he said in a conversation with NBC News host Tom Llamas.
Trump claims that during his presidency gross domestic product increased by 5.6 percent. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP growth in the third quarter of last year amounted to 4.4 percent.
During the discussion, the president repeatedly placed responsibility for economic problems on his predecessor Joe Biden, saying he had inherited a “shattered” economy and record inflation. “I inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country. It was off the charts,” Trump said.
Inflation did indeed reach 9.1 percent in June 2022—the highest level in more than four decades. By January 2025, when Trump returned to the White House, the figure had fallen to 3 percent. In December, annual inflation stood at 2.7 percent, while food prices rose by 3.1 percent and energy prices by 2.3 percent year over year. In January 2025, price growth for food and energy amounted to 2.5 and 1 percent, respectively.
The unemployment rate reached 4.4 percent in December, up from 4 percent in January last year. Since September 2021, the figure has remained below 5 percent—after a sharp spike in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the president’s optimistic rhetoric, the number of Americans dissatisfied with his economic policy is growing. According to a poll by NPR, PBS News, and Marist published last week, 59 percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy—2 percentage points more than a month earlier.
Preparing for the midterm elections, the president has spent the past two months visiting Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Iowa, promoting his economic record. He told Llamas that in Iowa the price of gasoline had fallen to $1.85 a gallon. However, data from AAA show that as of Monday the average price of regular gasoline in the state exceeds $2.56 a gallon, and in no county does it fall below $2.
Trump also said he was confident that 2026 would be “even better” than the first year after his return to power, pointing to rising investment. “Factories, plants, and thousands of businesses are being built across the country. I just spoke with China’s President Xi Jinping. Nobody has ever seen anything like what’s happening in America right now,” he said.