WASHINGTON (AP) — Tired of high prices and unimpressed by an economy that’s bad in almost every way the healthy oneAmericans demanded change as they voted for president.

They could take it.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to overturn many of the Biden administration’s economic policies. Embers campaigned on promises impose massive tariffs on foreign goods, reduce taxes on individuals and businesses, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants working in the United States.

With their votes, tens of millions of Americans expressed confidence that Trump could bring back the low prices and economic stability they remember from his first term — at least until the Covid-19 recession of 2020 paralyzed the economy and a subsequent strong recovery caused inflation to soar. . Inflation has fallen since then and is almost back to normal. Whereas Americans Disappointed with still high prices.

“His track record has proven to be balanced and positive, and people now look back and think: ‘Oh, okay. Let’s try again,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former White House economic adviser, director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Since Election Day rose rapidly The more than 1,700 points were based largely on expectations that tax cuts and broad loosening of regulations would boost economic growth and boost corporate profits.

Maybe they will. But many economists warn that Trump’s plans will likely come true worsen inflation He promised to eliminate the federal debt, increase it, and eventually slow growth.

Peterson Institute for International Economics, a leading think tank guessed He said Trump’s policies would reduce US gross domestic product (total production of goods and services) by $1.5 trillion to $6.4 trillion by 2028. Peterson also predicted that Trump’s proposals would raise prices sharply within two years: Inflation would otherwise rise from 1.9% in 2026 to 6% to 9.3% if Trump’s policies were fully enacted. It will jump in between.

Last month, 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter He warned that the Trump administration “will lead to higher prices, larger deficits and greater inequality.”

“Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.” they wrote.

Trump inherits an economy that appears fundamentally strong despite frustratingly high prices. Growth came healthy 2.8% annual rate From July to September. Unemployment is 4.1 percent – quite low by historical standards.

Among rich countries, only Spain will experience faster growth this year, the International Monetary Fund predicts. The Economist magazine recently declared that the United States is the economic “envy of the world.”

The Federal Reserve is so confident that US inflation will slow towards its 2 percent target lowered the benchmark interest rate in September and again this week.

However, consumers still bear the scars of the increase in inflation. Average prices It is still 19% higher than it was before inflation started to accelerate in 2021. grocery bills and rent increases still cause hardship, especially for low-income households. Again Inflation-adjusted hourly wages increased More than two years later, they are still below where they were before President Joe Biden took office.

Voters took their anger to the ballot box. Accordingly AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide, 3 in 10 voters In 2020, 2 in 10 voters said their family was “falling behind” financially. Nearly 9 in 10 voters were at least somewhat concerned about food costs, and 8 in 10 voters were at least somewhat concerned about healthcare, housing or gas costs.

“I don’t think it’s deep or complicated,” Holtz-Eakin said. “The real problem was that the Biden-Harris team was making people worse off, and they were very angry about it, and we saw the result.”

The irony is that mainstream economists fear that Trump’s solutions will make price levels worse rather than better.

At the center of Trump’s economic agenda taxation of imports. This is an approach that America claims will reduce trade deficits and force other countries to make concessions to the United States. He raised tariffs on Chinese goods in his first term, and now he has promised much more: Trump wants to increase tariffs on Chinese goods to 60% and impose a “universal” tariff of 10% or 20% on all other goods. imports.

Trump insists other countries pay tariffs. Actually, American companies pay them – and then they often pass on their higher costs to their customers through higher prices. For this reason Taxation of imports is normally inflationary. Worse, other countries often retaliate with tariffs on American goods, hurting U.S. exporters.