President Trump said prices are ‘all coming down now.’ They’re mostly going up.

As the midterm elections inch closer, polls frequently show voters expressing greater concern about inflation than any other issue.

This story was originally published on PolitiFact.com.

President Donald Trump said his administration has been doing a good job on that front.

“I inherited very, very high costs, and they’re all coming down now,” Trump said Aug. 4 on Fox News. “The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”

With a few exceptions, prices have been going up since Trump began his second term in January 2025, official federal data shows. In many cases, the picture for consumer prices has worsened since PolitiFact looked at this question in January, partially because the price of gasoline has risen since the start of the Iran war in late February.

In addition to hitting commuters’ wallets, higher prices at the pump also affect the cost of many consumer goods that need to be transported.

When contacted for comment, the White House acknowledged the war’s effect in a statement to PolitiFact. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the president “has always been clear about the fact that oil and gas prices — and thus overall inflation — will rapidly drop as soon as the Iran situation is resolved, and the administration in the meantime continues to implement more proven policies to deliver economic relief for the American people.”

Prices have decreased in some areas since Trump returned to office, including grocery items such as eggs, bacon and bread and durable goods, including cars. But items with falling prices are in the minority.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum, said Trump’s statement is inaccurate on both the numbers and the overall sentiment “The administration has an affordability issue for a reason,” he said.

Here’s a rundown of consumer prices today compared with when Trump took office late January 2025.

Overall, prices are up

For a while, overall inflation cooled under Trump. During roughly his first 13 months in office, the year-over-year inflation rate was lower than he inherited from President Joe Biden, which was about 3%.

Since the Iran war began Feb. 28, however, year-over-year inflation has spiked. The monthly inflation rate has been higher than what Trump inherited; the most recent measurement was 3.5% in June. Today’s year-over-year inflation rate of 3.5% is higher than during most of Biden’s final year and a half in office.

In addition, most types of consumer goods have increased in price since Trump began his second term.

Several major consumer categories have risen faster than the 4.3% overall increase, including airfare (up 12.5%), electricity (up 8%), and housing and clothing (up 5% each). The slowest increase was in durable goods (such as appliances), which have held steady in price. Prices for new and used cars have fallen modestly.

Grocery prices — a category Trump mentioned in the Fox News interview — have increased more slowly than prices overall, by 3.4% since January 2025. But many grocery categories have risen, including coffee (35%), ground beef (23%), steak (21%), sugar and sweets (9%), chicken breast (5.3%), and fruits and vegetables (5.2%).

A few major grocery items are cheaper now than in January 2025, including bread, bacon and eggs. (Eggs have mostly fallen in price after a bird flu crisis eased.)

Gasoline and energy prices remain high since the Iran war

About a year into his second term, Trump celebrated significant gasoline price decreases. From early December 2025 to mid-January 2026, prices at the pump dropped by about 10%, to a nationwide average of $2.78 a gallon.

Then, prices rocketed upward after the Iran war. Iran retaliated against U.S. strikes by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war had carried around one-fifth of the world’s crude oil.

Gasoline prices peaked at about $4.50 a gallon in mid-May, and while the price has since fallen to about $4.21, it’s still above its pre-war level of $2.94. If prices from the first week of August hold for the rest of the month, they would be the highest August average price since the U.S. Energy Administration began tracking this data in 1993.

Overall, gasoline prices are up by 34% since Trump began his second term. Other types of energy have also risen on Trump’s watch: fuel oil (24%), natural gas (12%) and electricity (8%).

Wages are close to falling behind inflation

For much of Trump’s second term, wages increased faster than prices. But the inflation bump since the war started has pumped the brakes on that progress.

After the war began, inflation began edging closer to wage increases, and in May, inflation exceeded wage gains for the first time in Trump’s second term. In June, wages edged ahead of inflation again, a shift widely attributed to an easing of gasoline prices, but that may be temporary if Iran and the U.S. remain at odds over traffic through the strait.

Our ruling

Trump said prices are “all coming down now. The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”

Overall, prices have increased by about 4.3% since Trump began his second term, and groceries have risen by 3.4%. The Iran war has particularly boosted energy prices; gasoline is up by 34% since Trump began his second term in January 2025, fuel oil is up 24%, natural gas is up 12% and electricity is up 8%.

Car prices have gone down during this period. Also down are eggs, bacon and bread prices. But other common items in consumers’ carts, such as coffee, ground beef and chicken breast, are up.

The statement contains an element of truth but ignores facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.

This story was originally published on PolitiFact.com.

It is republished here as part of a reporting and fact-checking partnership between PolitiFact and Hearst Television.