The report by Robert Romano provided in Part I that follows runs counter to the narrative that has been pushed by various ‘special interests’ that the Trump 2.0 Tariffs ‘will’ cause inflation. As Part II will reflect, this isn’t a guarantee that prices will continue on this path, but it does toss cold water on apparently biased or agenda-driven sources that are simply trying to undermine the retooling of the American economy for the benefit of the working class, middle-class, and retirees. That said, there are reasons to believe that matters are improving and can continue to do so. Facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) will provide “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing.” ©
Part I From the Daily Torch to MHProNews
Winning: Inflation Slowed To 2.3 Percent In April, Lowest Since February 2021 Despite Tariffs
The annual consumer inflation rate for April slowed down to 2.3 percent, the lowest since February 2021, according to the latest data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, despite the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by President Donald Trump on April 2 that all of Washington, D.C.’s experts arrogantly projected would increase prices.
Food at home down 0.1 percent.
Food away from home down 0.4 percent.
Gasoline down 0.1 percent.
Fuel oil down 1.3 percent.
Apparel down 0.2 percent.
New vehicles unchanged.
Used cars and trucks down 0.5 percent.
So much for that.
In the meantime, the tariffs were successfully utilized by the President to spearhead trade negotiations with countries all over the world, already resulting in reciprocal trade agreements with the United Kingdom and China, in the latter case, lowering reciprocal tariffs, which again, all of the experts stated was impossible.
In his May 7 press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell who has been holding interest rates high while the rest of the world is cutting could not decide if tariffs would cause inflation to be a one-time spike, or a prolonged affair: “The effects on inflation could be short-lived, reflecting a one-time shift in the price level. It is also possible that the inflationary effects could instead be more persistent. Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the tariffs … on how long it takes for them to pass through fully into prices and ultimately on keeping longer term inflation expectations well anchored.”
How about price increases would not accelerate at all? It did not even cross Powell’s mind. The only possibilities were up a lot, once, or up a lot for a long time.
But as President Trump is apt to note, Powell is always late to the party. So, the central bank’s tendency to fight the last war is actually rather predictable.
And yet, this was exactly what Trump had done in his first term, using threatened tariffs in 2019 against Mexico to achieve Remain in Mexico, secure that country’s military cooperation in policing the U.S. southern border and eventually the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
And Trump used actual tariffs against China in 2018 to bring China to the table for what became the January 2020 trade agreement.
All while having record low inflation.
In other words, President Trump has a very clear history of using tariffs to begin trade negotiations, resulting real trade deals that you can point to, without runaway inflation (or any at all for that matter) but none of the so-called experts could foresee that exactly the same thing would happen here.
The only item up significantly was natural gas at 3.7 percent, but not because of tariffs, rather, natural gas prices were already spiking in March as a result of weather, supply constraints and demand.
Democrats who foolishly hitched themselves to the wagon that inflation would go accelerate from tariffs are now careening down the mountainside of false predictions — along with prices.
The fact is, inflation has been slowing for almost three years now and usually finds its bottom following an economic recession or slowdown.
Now that tariffs are reciprocally being lowered, what will their next prediction be? Who cares? The chicken little doomsaying by the President’s tariff opponents have at least created one bit of certainty for markets — that those opponents are likely to be wrong.
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
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Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
1) Give Robert Romano his due. When much of the mainstream media is proclaiming the narrative that tariffs would ‘fuel inflation’ Romano said, wait a minute. He then explained why.
2) Give yours truly his due. In 2024, apparently left-leaning ex-World Bank lead economist Istvan Dobozi launched several anti-Trump op-eds via various mainstream media outlets. This contributor to the Patch and writer for MHProNews carefully deconstructed Dobozi’s rationale, showing their weaknesses and apparent flaws. Much of Dobozi’s arguments revolved around then-candidate and then-President Elect Trump proposed on tariffs.
Before pressing ahead, this writer has met István Dobozi several times. He’s a very pleasant fellow. The disagreement is about facts and their proper interpretation. It isn’t a personal slam in any form or fashion.
3) Romano pointed to gas prices at the pump are down. In our area, they have been bounding around, up and down. That said, several steps taken by President Donald J. Trump are apparently bearing fruit, and among them are oil and gas related. In some parts of the country, say in Democratic dominated California, their state policies have kept fuel costs at or near the highest in the nation.
4) It has to be kept in mind that government adds to costs, it doesn’t normally ‘reduce’ costs. Economist Thomas Sowell explained that phenomenon in the context of health care costs in the quote below. But that principle applies to other sectors of the economy too. By the way – in case a leftist colleague, family, or friend of yours didn’t catch it – Sowell was correct. Healthcare costs have risen since Obamacare was made law. Government adds a layer of bureaucracy which adds layers of costs.
Obama’s Affordable Care Act: A Healthcare Catastrophe
Our healthcare system is in crisis. Barack Obama’s signature law, backed by Big Pharma, has devastated American families. Since its enactment, individual market premiums soared by 129% from 2013 to 2019, while employer plans… pic.twitter.com/jthPJO2DIk
— Babylon Archives News (@Babylon_Arc) May 15, 2025
That principle that Dr. Sowell pithily explained can be applied a range of issues, including to the affordable housing crisis.
Before pressing on, let’s note for accuracy and balance. It isn’t that leftists are wrong on everything. That is going too far. But sometimes those on the left may press an issue like the importance of antitrust enforcement. That is correct. But when carefully examined, when the left via the Democratic Party in the U.S. has power, they routinely produce the opposite of what they campaigned on and claimed to support. Antitrust actions could – if properly and robustly enforced – unleash a wave of economic prosperity in the U.S.A. But what did Democrats do while they had the White House and both houses of Congress under Biden-Harris (D)? It isn’t that they did nothing. They said some useful things. But they failed to take the steps that many of their presidential hopefuls campaigned on. See the flashback reports below for evidence.
After years in power, Democrats are involved in new legislation that they say could help lower prices. Why didn’t they do this in 2021 or 2022? With the backdrop above, fast forward to more recent activity.
5) Left-leaning and anti-Trump media often seem to ignore the facts. Trump has a track record with tariffs. Inflation was lower during his administration than it was under Biden-Harris (D).
Karine Jean-Pierre claims Biden “inherited” an “economy that was on the downturn.”
When President Trump left office, inflation was 1.4%, gas was $2.39/gal, and mortgage rates were ~2.7%.
Under Harris, prices are up 20.1%, gas is ~45% higher, and mortgage rates remain near 7%. pic.twitter.com/thVxBoYi96
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 6, 2024
This isn’t hard… Inflation was 1.8 percent when Trump left office. Biden & Harris brought it up to 9 percent. How can you say you’re against big money in politics, when almost every corporate dollar there is has been spent on Harris or Trump’s Republican opposition? Wake Up!… pic.twitter.com/Z7jrXIPkZ8
— Royce White 🇺🇸 (@Highway_30) September 3, 2024
“During the Trump administration, inflation averaged 1.9% — the Harris-Biden years averaged 5.1%.” pic.twitter.com/Z9FcZgz1jk
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 21, 2024
6) There are multiple principles and themes that MHProNews promotes for a very simple reason. They happen to be true. They are supported by solid evidence.
The numbers are in…. Listen up Democrats!
INFLATION IS DOWN!
After all the tariffs, and it’s down.
The left told me that it was up, and would continue to go up.I also want to add, that inflation started to climb when Trump first left office, and now he has it dropping g… pic.twitter.com/1OFlkkeVW0
— Deez Freedomz (@DeezFreedomz) May 14, 2025
JD Vance reminds us that during the first Trump term when the media said, the tariffs will be in inflationary, they ended up, causing the lowest inflation and the largest real wage gain the country had seen in 50 years. pic.twitter.com/IKJOk6uyRl
— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) April 3, 2025
.@EricHovde: Under President Trump, almost no inflation. Under Biden, 20%+ price increases.
Real wages adjusted for inflation; under Trump, they rose 7.7%. Under Biden, they declined 2.9%.
Trump crushed ISIS, no wars. With Biden, the world is engulfed with wars. Records matter. pic.twitter.com/7mWDI0Ub6n
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 19, 2024
Trump proves his critics wrong who asserted his tariffs would cause hyperinflation.
Instead inflation is at a four year low .
Meanwhile wage growth hits a four year high helped by securing the border so jobs are going to American workers instead of illegal aliens. https://t.co/Tg4DP8tPdd— Tom Moore (@junogsp7) May 15, 2025
7) Once someone grasps the basics of Economics 101, points like the one made by Dr. Sowell provided above, some of the smoke screen generated by leftists (or others) can be spotted and adjusted for by thinking professionals.
8) Housing became much less affordable for tens of millions in the last four years. MHProNews reported on the evidence for that pattern factually.
9) Economic activity doesn’t morph in an instant. It takes time. But the early signs, as Romano pointed out in Part I, are promising. They happen to follow the pattern started in Trump 1.0.
10) Mostly negative mainstream media coverage of President Trump (in his first and second terms) has been documented by sources like the Media Research Center (MRC) for years.
11) MHProNews has for years informed our regular readers – who span the political and other spectrums – how media manipulation has been used for decades in an ongoing effort to manipulate public opinion and thus ‘manufacture consent’ or ‘manufacture dissent.’ A recent report on that theme documents and links others.
How this applies to manufactured housing is unpacked in the above and is illustrated by this Q&A with Bing‘s AI powered Copilot.
But as a flashback from several years ago, the article below also pulled back the curtain on Edward Bernays and his influence on the use of media to manipulate the population.
Bernay’s sobering 159-page book, Propaganda, is linked here. Years earlier, MHProNews spotlighted the power that Facebook and Google have to manipulate not everyone, but enough millions where they could influence election outcomes.
12) It remains to be seen what happens to manufactured housing specifically under Trump 2.0 (a.k.a. T2). The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) senior advisor Danny Ghorbani has made a recent argument for those in the MHI orbit to pivot and join them in embracing engagement with T2 to get the favorable laws the industry already has on the books to be properly enforced.
13) To learn more, see the linked reports. MHProNews plans to monitor and report on economic developments as they obviously relate to the ability of individuals, families, and other households to buy homes. Reality matters. Facts matter. Evidence matters. The most objective form of analysis possible obviously matters too, because readers like you have made and kept MHProNews the runaway #1 trade media serving manufactured housing for years. Thanks be to God and all involved in that process.
PS: MHProNews Note. Fresh manufactured housing industry corporate specific reports are among those that follow. An expanded lending option plus other subjects follow as well.
PS: Copilot’s response to the inquiry linked here opened with these words:
“Your assessment is well-supported by available evidence and aligns with documented trends in the manufactured housing industry.”
Reminder. There are sound reasons why AI has said that MHProNews has more than 6x the combined readership of MHI and its affiliated bloggers and trade media.
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
