President talks up strength of US economy in advance of midterm elections

Trump attempts to shift focus to bread-and-butter issues amid outrage over two fatal shootings by federal agents.

United States President Donald Trump has touted his economic record in a superlative-laden speech that sought to shift public focus to bread-and-butter issues amid outrage over two fatal shootings by US border and immigration agents.

In a pitch to midterm voters in the Republican stronghold of Iowa on Tuesday, Trump talked up the strength of the economy, hailing his first year as the “greatest” start to a presidential administration in US history.

“Today, after just one year of President Trump, our economy is booming, incomes are rising, investment is soaring, inflation has been defeated. Our border is closed – totally closed – and America is respected all over the world,” Trump said in the speech.

Trump delivered his speech amid a growing backlash to his immigration crackdown in neighbouring Minnesota, warning that a Democratic Party victory in November’s midterm elections would lead to “very bad things”.

“If we lose the midterms, you’ll lose so many of the things that we’re talking about, so many of the assets that we’re talking about, so many of the tax cuts that we’re talking about,” Trump said.

He pointed to the strong performance of the US stock market, which is at a record high, as evidence for the success of his tax cuts and tariffs. He also touted a $70m investment by farm-equipment maker Deere & Co in the state of North Carolina.

“I made a lot of people rich that I don’t even like… I’ve doubled their net worth,” the president said.

Trump also rebuffed criticism that his administration had failed to properly address cost-of-living concerns, accusing Democrats of inflating the issue for political reasons.

“It’s a word that they came up with: ‘affordability’. Every time you hear the word, remember, they are the ones who caused the problem,” Trump said, falsely claiming that his administration had brought down grocery prices and had inherited the highest inflation in history.

Trump’s speech and his pitch to voters come amid signs of widespread disillusionment with his handling of the economy, one of his strongest issues in the 2024 election campaign.

In a New York Times/Siena poll released last week, just 32 percent of Americans rated the economy as better than it was a year ago.

While the US economy has outperformed the expectations of many analysts over the past year, economists say the headline figures obscure signs of weakness buried within the economic data.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew an annualised 4.3 percent in the final quarter of 2025, the strongest performance in two years and well ahead of other advanced economies.

But much of the economic gains have gone to wealthy Americans, with the top 10 percent of earners accounting for roughly half of all spending, according to estimates by Moody’s Analytics.