Donald Trump has said the growing financial pressure inflicted on Americans by the war on Iran is “not even a little bit†motivating him to make a peace deal with Tehran.
With US inflation at a three-year high, and fuel costs still climbing after a sharp rise in oil prices, the US president said on Tuesday that he is not focused on the economic hardship sparked by the conflict.
“The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran [is] they can't have a nuclear weapon,†Trump told reporters at the White House before boarding a plane to China. “I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all.â€
The remarks come ahead of a US midterm election campaign season which looks to be defined by mounting concerns around affordability.
Trump was also speaking hours after official figures revealed that US prices had risen 3.8% in April – their fastest pace since 2023 – driven largely by energy costs that have surged since the US and Israel first attacked Iran in late February.
Gasoline now averages over $4.50 a gallon, according to AAA, which makes it the highest price in four years. Food prices are also up nearly 4%, electricity and utility bills have climbed and airlines have raised fares by more than 20%.
Trump's top officials have spent months struggling to explain when, or whether, such pressures will fade. Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, said in March that fuel could return to prewar levels by summer, but on Sunday he said he “can't make predictionsâ€. In April, he told CNN that prices falling below $3 a gallon “might not happen till next yearâ€.
Trump himself, asked recently for a forecast, offered that prices could go lower, “or the same, or maybe a little bit higherâ€, by November.
Kevin Hassett, Trump's top economic adviser, told Fox News on Sunday that relief was coming “relatively quickly and certainly ahead of the electionâ€. He also claimed the president had personally assured him the “war is close to being overâ€.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, took a different tack last week, suggesting Americans should count themselves fortunate, since other countries were suffering “big timeâ€.
The economic strain of the war has materialized across the world: inflation is also accelerating in Australia, Canada and South Korea; British households have been warned of a fresh cost-of-living crisis; and Asian manufacturers are already passing higher costs down the supply chain.
The US, as a net oil exporter, was “very fortunate†and “insulated to some degree†from the worst of it, claimed Rubio.
On Tuesday, Trump reached for to the same comparison. Before the war, he said, inflation was running at 1.7%. He predicted a resolution to the war would bring a “massive drop in the price of oil†and noted that the worst forecasts – $300-a-barrel crude, a stock market crash of 25% or more – had not materialized. “A lot of people predicted that,†he said. “Well, it didn't happen.â€
A University of Michigan survey from April found consumer confidence has slid to levels last seen in 2022, when inflation soared to its highest level in a generation due to disruption wrought by Covid-19.
Trump's recent public appearances have featured boasts about the stock market, dismissals of inflation concerns, and – on at least one occasion – an update on the rising cost of a new White House ballroom. On Tuesday he insisted his economic policies were working “incrediblyâ€, and that once the war ends, Americans would see the payoff.
“When this war is over, oil is going to drop, the stock market is going to go through the roof, and truly, I think we're in the golden age right now,†Trump said. “You're going to see a golden age like we've ever seen before.â€
