It has been less that a month since Donald Trump returned to the White House and some voters who sent him back to the Oval Office are already saying his actions are not what they “signed up for.”
Trump’s three weeks in Washington DC has been characterized by chaos as he threatened then walked back tariffs against America’s allies and major trading partners, signed a slew of executive orders and endorsed billionaire Elon Musk’s illegal and unconstitutional raid of the federal government.
The Wall Street Journal reported that amid the chaos, the ‘Trump bump’ in consumer confidence has already been eroded in the weeks since inauguration day.
The University of Michigan’s February report on consumer sentiment found that it fell by 5 percent, from 71.1 percent in January to 67.8 percent this month. Americans now expect inflation this year will be 4.3 percent, a 1 percent increase from last month.
Consumers, including those who voted for Trump, are worried about the effects of his sweeping executive orders and potential tariffs.
“I don’t like the turbulence. I don’t like the chaos in the market,” Paul Bisson told the WSJ. Bisson voted for Trump, but feels “his policies have led to that chaos.”
The 58-year-old who writes proposals for a flight safety company and co-owns a dog daycare in San Antonio, Texas, said he hopes to retire soon but worries that he will not be able to do so if Trump moves ahead with his tariff threats.
“That will make the economy worse, and that’s not what we signed up for,” Bisson said. “We’ve already cut back. There’s no more cutting back to do.”
This week Trump temporarily backed off his threat to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada with a lesser 10% tax on the northern neighbor’s energy products.
Trump announced the 30 day pause while claiming that both countries have assured him they will do more to stem the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.
However, observers noted that the tariffs drama accomplished nothing since the measures taken by Canada and Mexico were already in place after being negotiated under the Biden administration.
