President Donald Trump issued a slew of executive orders on Inauguration Day aimed at lowering prices for American consumers, including one directing federal agencies to "deliver emergency price relief" to lower the cost of housing and home appliances and another to "freeze" regulations that increase the cost of doing business.
But Trump's plan to lower prices will be impeded by his support of broad-based tariffs on consumer goods and manufacturing inputs.
The price relief order begins by acknowledging that inflation has increased the cost of living for Americans and the role played by government spending "artificially and unsustainably stimulating demand" under Joe Biden's administration. It also credits Biden-era regulations with imposing "almost $50,000 in costs on the average American household." It grants federal agencies carte blanche to achieve the vague goal of "restor[ing] purchasing power to the American family," so long as they do so in a way that's "consistent with applicable law." (What could possibly go wrong?)
