President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pennsylvania to tout their economic agenda, but in reality, Pennsylvanians paid more in 2025 thanks to inflation, tariffs and budget cuts.
While visiting the Lehigh Valley earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance reiterated President Dondald Trump’s talking point that the American economy is “A++++” at the moment.
However, many Pennsylvanians may not be as optimistic about their finances as Trump and Vance.
“Pennsylvanians are not in a good mood regarding the economy, the direction of the nation as a whole. And that’s reflected in their appraisals of President Trump,” Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said prior to Trump’s recent visit in an interview with NPR.
“His job approval numbers are in the low 40s, which, again, mirror what’s happening nationally. It’s not the same environment that he found just a year ago in the commonwealth when he was able to carry the state for the second out of three attempts here.”
Inflation under Trump’s first year in office has cost Pennsylvania families $733 and his landmark legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” along with tariffs are expected to cost Pennsylvania families an additional $1,060.
We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of small businesses across the country, found that Pennsylvania businesses paid $5.7 billion in tariffs from the start of the year through the end of August. That figure is up from $2.1 billion during that same period in 2024.
Pennsylvanians are also expected to see their health care coverage increase due to the Affordable Care Act tax credits expiring at the end of this year.
Close to 500,000 Pennsylvanians purchase their health care through Pennie, the state’s ACA marketplace, and nearly 422,000 of those customers rely on those subsidies to pay for their monthly premiums.
Pennie customers are expected to see their premiums increase by 102% if these tax credits are allowed to expire.
“Trump promised to lower costs for Pennsylvania families on Day One, but he’s done the opposite. Trump has spent his first year wining and dining CEOs and billionaires while skyrocketing costs, killing jobs, steering our economy toward recession, and kicking millions of Americans off their health care,” Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement.
He added, “As Trump has his fun with gilded ballrooms and Great Gatsby parties while ignoring everybody else, Pennsylvania families know Democrats will keep fighting on their behalf every day to lower costs and improve lives.”
