One of President-elect Donald Trump‘s first acts as president was to sign a memorandum about bringing down inflation.
Trump signed the memorandum on Monday evening in front of a crowd of cheering supporters in Capital One Area in Washington, D.C. The document said that “unprecedented regulatory oppression” under former President Joe Biden has imposed excess regulatory costs on families.
The document, in very broad strokes, outlines an all-of-government approach to bringing down prices for consumers.
“I hereby order the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker,” the memorandum reads.
It directs agencies to take actions that would lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply, cut “counterproductive” requirements that raise the costs of home appliances, slash “unnecessary” administrative expenses that raise healthcare costs, and create employment opportunities for American workers, among other broad directives.
“Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy shall report to me and every 30 days thereafter, on the status of the implementation of this memorandum,” the document adds.
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The memo said that the wave of inflation under Biden’s administration was by design and emphasized that quashing too-high inflation is a top priority for Trump, which is why the presidential memorandum is being released on Day One of the Trump administration.
Inflation has been the biggest economic hardship for consumers over the past four years. Annual inflation peaked at over 9%, and while it has fallen, annual inflation has remained moored above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
In December, Inflation moved up for the third month in a row, rising two-tenths of a percentage point to 2.9%, showing that Trump will be inheriting the hot-potato economic matter from Biden.
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It is unclear what tools Trump may deploy to try to drive down inflation, although there are concerns that his planned tariff agenda could cut against efforts to combat rising prices.
The Fed hiked interest rates to multiyear highs in response to the towering inflation, and with recent inflation increases, the central bank is on track to move more slowly in lowering interest rates in the coming year or so.
