In a recent speech, President Trump—now just President Donald Trump—celebrated his first 100 days in office. There were more than a couple misleading claims on gas prices, the cost of eggs and business startups. This article tests those claims against the best available data.
When Trump took office, the national average gas price was $3.125 per gallon. But as of April 29, 2023, the American Automobile Association (AAA) released a shocking AAA breakthrough announcement. They sounded the alarm when every state crossed an average gas price of $2.67. This morning, the national average for a gallon of regular gas is $3.16. This is up a bit since Trump’s inauguration.
For example, during his speech Trump claimed that “gasoline prices are down by a dollar” since he entered office. The data contradicts this claim. Even with today’s market fluctuations, the average price has continued to be soft but steady and not crash or rebound sharply.
Speaking of food costs, Trump handled a question about what has been for months an acute crisis over egg prices caused by an outbreak of avian flu. On the economy, for instance, he proclaimed that “When I took office, the price of eggs was up 87%.” Unfortunately, this statement fits right in the groove of USDA data. In January, the average wholesale price for a dozen large white eggs reached $6.55. Recently, it dropped to about $3.15, a shocking drop of around 52%. In comparison, the average consumer price for a dozen large Grade A eggs was approximately $4.95 when Trump took office.
Similarly, while the cost of eggs did rise to a record high of $6.23 per dozen in March, Trump’s assertion appears exaggerated when compared to the actual figures.
Though Trump bemoaned rising gas and food prices, he emphasized the pace of job growth under his administration. Jobs The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 345,000 new jobs created over his first two full months in office. This data goes through March 2023. Trump claimed, “We’ve added 350,000 new jobs in just three short months,” more than a bit of cherry-picking the number high.
Either way, Trump identified a big change in American domestic policy. He claimed that, “for the first time in recent memory, job gains for native-born Americans finally outpace job gains for foreign workers.” Data also unequivocally demonstrate that new job creation during this time benefited native-born workers first and foremost. In contrast, foreign-born workers were further behind in taking advantage of these opportunities.
The speech addressed the wrong problem on border crossings. In March, officials announced 7,181 migrant encounters—a decrease from the 8,346 reported in February. In percentage terms, this reduction occurs in line with what we saw from February to April of last year under President Biden’s leadership. Surprisingly, it sets the lowest numbers ever recorded since 2000.
Trump said, “They’ve eliminated – or saved more than $150bn on waste, fraud and abuse.” He failed to provide granular insights of how these savings were realized and their overall effect on the federal balance sheet.