Welcome to the online version of Of the policy desktopA night bulletin that provides the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Politics team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign.
In today’s edition, Kristen Welker explores the tension between the economic plans of President Donald Trump and the promises he made in the campaign. Shannon Pettypiece also answers a reader’s question about how tariffs affect prices. In addition, Ben Kamisar and Alexandra Márquez examine the different potential roads democratic presidential contenders are betting early in Trump’s second mandate.
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Trump tariffs collide with a key campaign promise
By Kristen Welker
One of President Donald Trump’s central promises focused on reducing high prices and providing relief to voters fighting for the end of the month.
It is a problem that helped him win. The economy was the main problem for voters in November, according to exit surveys, and the voters who said that inflation had already caused their families “a serious difficulty” backed Trump for a wide margin.
“When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they doubled and tripled the price for a short period of time, and won an choice based on that,” Trump told me last December. “We are going to reduce those prices.”
But now, the president recognizes that Americans can feel some economic pain because of their radical tariffs.
“We believe we are doing very well,” Trump told reporters yesterday. “Once again, there will be transition, cost and transition problems, but in the end it will be something beautiful.”
Several Trump supporters who recently talked to NBC News said they are willing to withstand higher prices in the short term if that means reviving US manufacturing and the fairer trade in the long term. But others are beginning to raise concerns that the president has abandoned his key campaign promise to reduce costs.
Trump was already in unstable terrain on economic issues before the last tariff movements. A NBC news survey in March found that most voters disapproves their management of the economy, and a plurality (46%) said that “they were not satisfied at all” with the way Trump is fighting inflation.
So how long will the Americans give Trump to lower prices? And how will prices react as a result of their tariffs?
We deepen the latest on Trump’s rates about “Meet The Press” this Sunday with Trump Peter Navarro’s commercial advisor, Senator Cory Booker, Dn.J. and Ray Dalio, founder and investment director of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest coverage fund.
More on Trump’s rates:
✉️ Mailbag: how imposing and eliminating, tariffs can affect prices
Thanks to all those who sent us an email this week! A reader wrote to ask if we could expect to see that prices are because tariffs go down again if these rates are reduced or eliminated in the future:
“Once prices go up, what are the possibilities that prices return to their costs prior to the rate? I can’t imagine that companies not only add the cost adjusted to their results. Some prices can reduce some prices, but not all.”
To respond to that, we turn to the Senior Senior Pettypiece policy reporter, who has been covering the ins and outs of Trump’s rates plans. Here is your answer:
As this reader and others could have noticed, the prices of most of the things we bought rarely decrease. In general, that’s good something – Having a healthy inflation rate of about 2% is usually a sign of a growing economy, while generalized prices falls can be a sign that the economy is fighting.
But when it comes to tariffs, there are not many good data on what happens with prices once a tariff is built, because it is extremely rare that a rate is deleted once it is implemented. President Joe Biden continued the Trump tariffs of his first mandate, and some companies are paying tariffs that were implemented decades ago.
Many factors beyond tariffs will establish a price paid by consumers, such as labor, transport and raw materials costs. That also makes it difficult to determine how many prices will increase from tariffs. If tariffs make the economy of the United States decrease speed, that could mean lower prices of oil and depressed wages, which could compensate some of the highest costs of the rates.
Therefore, it is necessary to take the entire economic image when looking at prices. Even if an article rate will be deleted, if other costs go up more, there is no possible price change once the rate is eliminated. As the reader points out, companies can also try to maintain additional income from the highest prices to increase their profit margin – But that is only if the consumer is willing or capable of paying the highest price or a competitor does not rise to them.
4 lanes in the shadow (very early) 2028 Democratic primary
We are not even 100 days in Trump’s mandate, but key democratic leaders are already looking for different potential paths to power in a few years.
As Ben Kamisar and Alexandra Márquez point out, the game is at a crossroads, with its image sliding to the historical minimums after the November elections and lacks a significant power in Washington to reject Trump and the Republican party.
It is in that context that the Democrats are doing early, but important, it moves on how to position themselves as the party looks towards a 2028 presidential race.
We group them into four categories.
Take a portion of the conservative cake: The governor of California Gavin Newsom; Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
Resist Trump at all costs: The governor of Illinois JB Pritzker; Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; New Jersey Cory Booker; The governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez de New York.
Go down and govern: Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer; PENSILVANIA Governor Josh Shapiro; Maryland Wes Moore governor.
Drawing their own paths: The governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear; Rep. RO Khanna de California; Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Read more →
🗞️ The other main stories today
- 🔴 Drama of the House Republican Party: One of the guarantees, the representative Elise Stefanik, RN.y., received when Trump achieved his nomination to be an ambassador of the United States before the United Nations was that he would claim his position in the Chamber Intelligence Committee. That is presented to President Mike Johnson with an enigma: retire a Republican to leave space or try to expand the panel. Read more →
- ⚖️ In court: A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can deport the graduate student from Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil. Read more →
- ➡️ In the United States: A Maine high school is at the center of a conflict over title IX, since the Trump administration threatens to extract all federal funds on the State, allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. Read more →
- 🔎 In the United States, Cont. Alina Haba, the new US prosecutor for the New Jersey district, said she opened an investigation into Governor Phil Murphy and state attorney general Matthew Platkin for not cooperating with federal agencies on immigration. Read more →
- 👀 2026 clock: Iowa’s republican governor Kim Reynolds announced that he would not seek re -election. Read more →
- 🕕 Time of the season: In a social publication of truth, Trump said Congress should press so that summer time is permanent. Read more →
That’s all of the politics desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Faith Wardwell.
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