How Donald Trump Broke Our Economy in 100 Days
By Senator Elizabeth Warren
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to lower people’s costs “on day one.” In his first interview after the election, he said that the focus on prices was an important reason for his victory. But after the election, Trump has ignored his promise. Instead, the chaos and corruption of his first 100 days are raising costs for American households and inflicting terrible damage on our economy. The economy is now teetering on the edge not because of a pandemic or the sale of millions of sleazy mortgages, but because of one man alone: the President of the United States.
American consumers are the engine that powers our economy, so I thought it would be useful to take stock of how they feel 100 days into the Trump presidency.
Consumer sentiment has been plummeting since Trump took office and, last week, reached its lowest point in more than 30 years. Americans across all party lines expect inflation to jump in the year ahead and remain higher for longer. While Trump falsely claims that the prices of groceries have come down in the past 100 days, consumers who face rising sticker prices month after month know firsthand that costs have not come down. March inflation data confirmed this reality, showing that “food at home” prices skyrocketed last month. And workers see a weakening labor market as they grow increasingly worried about their income growth and job opportunities.
Families describe how they are hanging on by their fingernails, and the numbers back them up. Household debt has reached a staggering $18 trillion—nearly $4 trillion higher than in 2019. This debt has outpaced both inflation and wage growth, as more families borrow just to make it to the end of the month.
Credit card debt illustrates another part of the story. One in three Americans now has more credit card debt than emergency savings. That means millions of families now walk a high wire, and a single medical emergency, car repair, or job loss could send them tumbling. With average credit card interest rates now exceeding 21%—up from the 12-16% range that held steady for decades—these individuals are trapped in an endless cycle of debt. Despite his repeated promises to cap rates at 10%, President Trump has made no effort to lower credit card interest rates since he was elected.
The signs of stress are growing stronger. Credit card delinquencies—measured as the percentage of accounts that are more than 90 days overdue—have climbed to their highest levels since the 2008 financial crisis. This exceeds even the peak delinquency level reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. As defaults climb, so has the share of active credit card holders making only the required minimum payment to avoid a default, which rose to 10.75% in 2024—the highest level ever recorded. That means more cardholders are struggling just to pay interest on their credit cards, with little hope of paying off their underlying balances.
Auto loan delinquencies tell a similar story. The current default level approaches the peak seen during both the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis. As more buyers default on their auto loans, repossessions increase, and reports suggest that car repossessions spiked dramatically in 2024. People who lose their transportation to work are likely in for even more economic pain as they face the risk of losing their jobs as well.
Student loan borrowers are the latest victims of Trump’s indifference. The proportion of Americans in severe delinquency jumped in February 2025. This surge is directly linked to resumed student loan repayments, with 2.7 million borrowers already reported delinquent and another 5.4 million at imminent risk of missing payments. Rather than offering relief, Trump is closing off access to affordable student loan repayment options, and, as another finger in the eye to people who are struggling, he has announced that his administration will begin garnishing Social Security benefits and wages for borrowers in default. Those collection efforts are likely to have echo effects elsewhere, pushing other delinquencies even higher as stressed borrowers see their take-home pay fall.
With so many indications that American consumers are in serious trouble, our government should be throwing them a lifeline. Instead, President Trump is throwing them an anchor. He is gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is the last line of defense that protects seniors, servicemembers, and other consumers from scammers, cheaters, and outright crooks. President Trump is creating a perfect storm where Americans face both more debt and less protection from financial predators.
The outlook for consumers gets worse as President Trump’s trade war threatens our entire economy. Despite inheriting an economy that was strong and growing, in less than 100 days, his massive on-again, off-again tariffs have stoked serious fears of an economic recession. Equity markets have crashed. Retirement accounts have sunk. Business investment has frozen. Consumer sentiment has imploded. Trump has single handedly reversed progress on bringing manufacturing back to America, with workers getting laid off instead.
Corruption is always a drain on a nation, but Trump’s scale of corruption has turned it into a devastating economic factor as well. When the president first announced massive tariffs on virtually every country and every product, he said there would be no exceptions. But then, he gave a special exception to Tim Cook—the billionaire CEO who dumped $1 million into Trump’s inauguration. Trump is also giving special treatment to his own businesses. Just three days before taking the oath of office, Trump launched his own memecoin—a type of cryptocurrency infamous for “rug pulls,” “pump-and-dumps,” and other scams that cost investors more than $500 million in 2024 alone. A few weeks later, Trump and his sons launched a stablecoin titled “USD1,” shamelessly profiting off the presidency itself and gearing up to sign legislation in Congress that would facilitate his own product launch and grant him authority to oversee his own financial company. Last week he doubled down again, auctioning off a private dinner with the President himself and a special White House tour to top $TRUMP memecoin investors, driving up the value of the coins and earning a fee on every trade on the Trump-affiliated website. Trump and his buddies raked in more than $900,000 in two days, on top of the $324.5 million they have raked in since January.
A strong economy isn’t built on pay-to-play and special favors for billionaire buddies. During Trump’s first term, he enriched himself and gave special treatment to big companies while small businesses got nothing and consumers got stiffed. That pattern is repeating, but this time on an even grander scale that threatens to plunge our economy into a recession.
If the recession fears materialize, as some economists and CEOs believe they already have, millions of Americans could face the one-two punch of job losses on top of overwhelming debt burdens. A cascade of defaults, foreclosures, and personal bankruptcies could follow. And with President Trump and congressional Republicans working to dismantle social safety net programs, consumers will have even less to fall back on.
Congress can act to protect our economy, but right now the Republican majority is heading in the wrong direction. Instead of slowing Trump’s reckless behavior or offering some help to struggling families, Republicans are actively working to jam through a new tax law to give trillions of dollars to a tiny handful of billionaires and giant corporations. They are threatening to dismantle the CFPB, the agency that has returned more than $21 billion to families that have been cheated or scammed by big financial institutions. They are advancing budgets that slash funding for scientific research that saves lives, boosts innovation, and powers our long-term economic growth. They propose no votes to stabilize the economy or lower costs for American families.
But one unavoidable vote is coming up. Tomorrow, Senator Ron Wyden and I will force a vote on our bipartisan resolution to turn off President Trump’s tariff emergency. A vote for this resolution would demonstrate that Congress is willing to exercise its Constitutional responsibilities on tariff policy and that there are some curbs in place over President Trump’s chaotic economic decision making. Every Democrat will vote for the resolution—and the American people will see whether Republicans in Congress are working for them or whether they are there just to bend a knee to Donald Trump.
The chaos and corruption of Trump’s first 100 days can be curbed. On tariff policy and a range of other economic actions, Trump has only as much power as Congress is willing to let him keep. It is time for Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, to step up and head off a crisis before millions more American families are hurt.