Trump hopes North Carolina speech will bolster his standing on US economy

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to North Carolina on Friday, seeking to convince Americans that his handling of the economy is sound ahead of a midterm election year that could spell trouble for him and his ruling Republicans.

With some prices increasing and unemployment up, Trump has his work cut out for him. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed just 33% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy.

Trump is set to argue that the U.S. economy is poised for a surge due to his policies and that any problems they are experiencing are the fault of the Democrats.

He contends that he has brought down the price of gasoline, imposed tariffs that are bringing in billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury and attracted trillions of dollars in investments by foreign allies that will lead to a surge in hiring.

Republicans worry, however, that economic woes could jeopardize their chances in elections next November that will decide whether they will keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the remaining two years of Trump’s term.

The speech will take place at a 9 p.m. rally at the convention center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. That will be a stop on the way to his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The U.S. president has repeatedly said that any economic pain Americans are experiencing should be blamed on policies he inherited from his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden. 

“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said in a grievance-filled speech on Wednesday night that he delivered in a jarringly rapid-fire pace.

Democrats have argued that Trump himself has bungled the economy – the central issue he campaigned on last year.

Trump got some early holiday cheer on Thursday from the long-delayed Consumer Price Index report for November. It said housing costs were up by the smallest margin in four years and food costs rose by the least since February. Egg prices — a subject Trump raises regularly — fell for a second month, and by the most in 20 months.

Asked what his message will be in North Carolina, Trump said it would be similar to his last two events, an Oval Office prime-time address on Wednesday night and a visit to Pennsylvania last week.

“I mean, we’ve had tremendous success. We inherited a mess, and part of what we inherited was the worst inflation in 48 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And now we’re bringing those prices down. I’ll be talking about that.”

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)