‘Costs Are Way Down’ in ’the Greatest Economy,' Trump Says

The president called on Republican lawmakers to speak more positively about the economy to counter what he called ‘fake’ polls and ‘false talk’ by Democrats.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event about weight-loss drugs in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 6, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump said in a new interview that the U.S. economy is performing better than what detractors have alleged.

“Costs are way down,” Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview that was released on Monday. “Gasoline is going to be hitting $2 pretty soon, or around $2.”

He added that prices were higher under the previous administration and noted that “when gasoline comes down, when energy comes down ... we drill, you know, drill, baby drill. We’re going like wild.”

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States stood at $3.075 as of Nov. 12. The average price was $3.078 a year ago. The highest-ever recorded price occurred under the Biden administration when a gallon of gasoline, on average, reached $5.016 for regular unleaded on June 14, 2022.

In the interview, Trump also said that he believes that Democrats’ messaging about the economy under his watch is misleading, and that polls showing Americans are feeling economic woes are fabricated.

“I don’t know that they are saying that. I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had,” he stated, also telling Ingraham that Republican lawmakers need to speak about the economy more.

“The Republicans don’t talk about it. The Democrats give false talk. ... And I say it all the time: Republicans have to talk about the fact that prices are down.”

Referring to Trump’s policies, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a member of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, told NBC News in late September: “He’s promised us this golden age. It’s not happening. He promised the renewal of all his manufacturing jobs—not happening. Promised tariffs could restore all this stuff—not happening at all.”

Trump, speaking this past week at the America Business Forum, said he thinks that communication was the problem in recent elections that saw Democrats win in New York City, Virginia, and New Jersey. He stated that “we have the greatest economy right now” and that “a lot of people don’t see that.”

“These are the things you have to talk about,” Trump told a packed arena at Miami’s Kaseya Center that included top business executives, global athletes, and political leaders. “If people don’t talk about them, then you cannot do so well in elections.”

Trump’s comments to Ingraham come as members of Congress are nearing the final passage of a package to end the weeks-long government shutdown that started in early October. The House was slated to vote on the measure on Wednesday evening.

Amid the shutdown, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated that the funding lapse would reduce growth in this year’s fourth quarter by about 1.5 percentage points. That would cut growth by half from the third quarter. The reopening should boost first-quarter growth next year by 2.2 percentage points, the CBO projected, but about $11 billion in economic activity will be permanently lost.

The shutdown has worsened Americans’ outlook on the broader economy. Declining consumer sentiment can, over time, reduce spending and slow growth, although in recent years Americans have kept shopping even when their outlooks became more grim.

Consumer sentiment dropped to a three-year low and close to the lowest point ever recorded in a survey released by the University of Michigan earlier this month, with pessimism over personal finances and anticipated business conditions weighing on Americans.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.