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Trump hits the road to sell economic wins, as Republicans brace for high-stakes midterm showdown
Trump to deliver speech in Iowa on energy, economy
President Trump is headed to Iowa to push his affordability agenda. FOX Business host Taylor Riggs breaks down the current economic wins Trump could highlight, including GDP growth and real wage increases.
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Facing a rough political climate as his party aims to hold their House and Senate majorities in this year’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump on Tuesday kicks off what the White House says will be weekly stops in states with key ballot box showdowns.
It’s part of the president’s push to showcase he’s working to combat rising prices, a top issue on the minds of Americans. And as the Trump administration reels amid two fatal shootings by federal agents in Minnesota this month of U.S. citizens protesting aggressive tactics to deport millions of undocumented migrants, it’s also an effort to pivot to the economy from immigration.
Trump’s first stop is Iowa, a one-time Midwestern battleground turned red-leaning state the president carried by double digits in 2024 where Republicans are now playing defense as they defend open Senate and gubernatorial seats, as well as three competitive GOP-controlled House districts.
In suburban Des Moines, Trump will visit a local business, meet with lawmakers, and deliver an address on the economy.
SHOWDOWN FOR THE HOUSE: DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS BRACE FOR HIGH-STAKES MIDTERM CLASH
President Donald Trump launched the year-long countdown to America’s 250th anniversary, with a stop at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, on July 3, 2025. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«The economy is good. It’s all good. Prices are coming way down, and we have a lot of very positive news,» Trump touted as he departed for Iowa.
And ahead of the trip, a White House official told Fox News Digital, «Inflation has cooled, economic growth is accelerating, and real wages are up for American workers.»
Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and keep their House majority.
But Democrats say their decisive victories in November’s 2025 elections, and their overperformances in special elections and other ballot box showdowns last year, were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.
The president’s approval on the economy has consistently hovered in negative territory since last March, and has dragged down his overall approval ratings during his first year back in the White House.
Among the most recent national polls — a Wall Street Journal survey conducted earlier this month put Trump’s approval rating on the economy at 44%-54%, and he stood at 35%-56% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in the field this past weekend.
TRUMP VOWS HE’LL BE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL ‘A LOT’ THIS YEAR
«Donald Trump has tanked the economy for working families, making the cost-of-living an inescapable hell for millions of Americans. Everyday Americans are drowning under the weight of rising costs, flat wages, high unemployment, and record layoffs — it’s no wonder they’re concerned about making ends meet,» Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer argued in a statement.
But the Wall Street Journal poll indicated that congressional Republicans had an 11-point advantage over their Democratic rivals when it came to which party was better equipped to handle the economy.
Iowa is friendly ground for Trump, who convincingly won the state in his two presidential victories and one re-election defeat.
President Donald Trump celebrates his victory in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, at a campaign event in Des Moines on Jan. 15, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
But a memo from Democratic National Committee (DNC) Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman claimed, «However hard Trump tries to explain away his failing economy, it’s abundantly clear that Americans aren’t buying it, especially in Iowa, where Trump’s policies are raising costs for Iowans, devastating Iowa’s agricultural economy, and destroying thousands of jobs that working Iowans rely on.»
The White House disagrees, with the official arguing that «Iowans are better off with President Trump and Republican leadership,» noting that gas prices in the state «ranked the second lowest in the nation.»
And pointing to the various tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s domestic legislative achievement so far in his second term, the official said, «Iowans could see their wages rise up to $61,000 over the next four years.»
TRUMP CHEERS STEADY INFLATION NUMBERS AS AFFORDABILITY FIGHT SHAPES 2026 MIDTERM BATTLE
The GOP, as it works to hold its congressional majorities, is dealing with a low propensity issue: MAGA voters who don’t always go to the polls when Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot.
But even though he’s not on the ballot this year, Trump pledged last week that he’ll be on the campaign trail «a lot» on behalf of fellow Republicans running in the midterms.
President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to deliver remarks on the U.S. economy and affordability at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2025. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trump made stops last month and earlier this month in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan to highlight his accomplishments on the economy.
And the weekly trips advertised by the White House are a big change from Trump’s first term, when the president didn’t start his campaign travel blitz until Labor Day.
Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month that «the President of the United States is our secret weapon… He’s laser focused.»
«We got to make sure we turn our voters out, and we got to make sure that we have people energized. And there’s nobody that can energize our base more than President Trump,» Gruters added.
And the White House official said that the president «has always been most in his element when he’s interacting with everyday Americans, and the President’s domestic travel will allow him to most effectively underscore how this Administration has and continues to deliver economic prosperity for the American people.»
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Democrats are just fine with Trump hitting the road.
«Trump has historically low approval ratings because he has put America last, sold out working families to hand out favors to billionaires, and made life unaffordable. Hitting the road will only remind Americans of his failures and force GOP candidates to tie themselves to his cratering presidency,» DNC chair Ken Martin argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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Senate Democrats have panned the GOP’s push for voter ID legislation as akin to segregationist laws from the Deep South, but the architect of the bill in the Senate says their arguments are detached from reality.
«It’s paranoid fantasy,» Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital. «These are absurd arguments. They should be ashamed to make them.»
Lee was responding to comments from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has doubled down on his claim that the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act is «Jim Crow 2.0.»
THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: ‘WE WILL HAVE A VOTE’
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called the accusation that his voter ID legislation was «Jim Crow 2.0» by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., «paranoid fantasy.» (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
The bill, which passed the House last week and has been introduced and championed by Lee in the Senate, would require photo ID to vote in federal elections, proof of citizenship to register and would mandate that states keep voter rolls clear of ineligible voters.
Schumer and his caucus plan to block the bill, arguing that it is a tool of voter suppression that would disproportionately harm poorer Americans and minority groups.
But Lee argued that providing identification or proof of citizenship is routine in everyday life — whether undergoing a background check to buy a firearm or filling out tax forms when starting a new job.
COLLINS BOOSTS REPUBLICAN VOTER ID EFFORT, BUT WON’T SCRAP FILIBUSTER
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that the SAVE America Act, voter ID legislation backed by President Donald Trump, would get a vote in the Senate. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
«By their logic, it’s Jim Crow to require somebody to establish citizenship before taking a job with a new employer, and that’s insane,» Lee said.
«And so then they argue here, well, voting is so fundamental, and we have constitutional protections protecting our right to vote,» he continued. «Well, we’ve got constitutional protections protecting our right to bear arms, and yet that doesn’t cause us to dispense with proving who you are and your eligibility to buy a gun. This has just been insane.»
Without Democratic support, however, the pathway to sending the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk is complicated.
GOP REACHES KEY 50-VOTE THRESHOLD FOR TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL AS SENATE FIGHT LOOMS
President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has vowed to bring the SAVE America Act to the floor, and Republicans have the votes to move it through its first key procedural hurdle. From there, Democrats can block it with the 60-vote filibuster, which Lee often refers to as the «zombie» filibuster.
Eliminating the filibuster is out of the question for several of Lee’s colleagues, but Republicans are warming to reinstating a talking, or standing, filibuster, which would require Senate Democrats to make their case against the bill on the floor over hours of debate.
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Trump has already suggested he would issue an executive order if the legislation fails, which Lee declined to speculate on without first knowing what exactly would be done.
But he noted that it was all the more reason to pass the SAVE America Act, given the ever-swinging political pendulum in Washington, D.C.
«It’s still really critically important that we pass this law, because let’s assume that he issued such an order, and that it does most or all of what we needed to do here, that gives us protection for the moment, to whatever degree he’s able to do that through an executive action,» Lee said. «But we need something that can last longer than he’s in office.»
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REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi
Las negociaciones nucleares entre Irán y Estados Unidos en Ginebra abrieron una fase de mayor optimismo en los mercados, tras jornadas marcadas por declaraciones enfrentadas entre el presidente Donald Trump y las autoridades iraníes. El precio del petróleo, que había subido ante el aumento de la tensión, experimentó una baja luego de que el ministro de Exteriores iraní, Abbas Araghchi, declarara que “se ha abierto una nueva ventana de oportunidad” para alcanzar un acuerdo sostenible, aunque Irán mantiene su disposición a defenderse ante cualquier amenaza.
El barril de West Texas Intermediate cerró con una caída de 0,9% hasta $62,33, tras haber llegado a subir 1,5% durante la jornada. Por su parte, el Brent del Mar del Norte retrocedió 1,8% hasta $67,42. Analistas del sector, como Aarin Chiekrie de Hargreaves Lansdown, indicaron que “hay especulación sobre la posibilidad de que Irán acepte diluir su uranio más enriquecido a cambio del levantamiento total de las sanciones financieras”, aunque persisten dudas sobre si ese gesto será suficiente para lograr un acuerdo definitivo.
Desde Teherán se informó que existe un acuerdo general con Washington sobre los términos básicos de un potencial pacto, mientras que un funcionario estadounidense confirmó que los negociadores iraníes volverán a Ginebra con una nueva propuesta en dos semanas. A pesar de estos avances, ambos países mantienen despliegues militares en la región: Irán anunció el cierre temporal de una parte del Estrecho de Ormuz para ejercicios militares, mientras que Estados Unidos envió un segundo portaviones. Esta situación añade volatilidad a los mercados energéticos, ya que el Estrecho es un punto clave para el tránsito mundial de crudo.
En el ámbito bursátil, Wall Street cerró la sesión con leves alzas, después de una jornada volátil. Chiekrie señaló que “los corredores de seguros, asesores financieros, servicios inmobiliarios y logística estuvieron bajo presión la semana pasada, y los inversores observan con cautela qué segmento del mercado podría ser el próximo en verse afectado por la inteligencia artificial”. Las bolsas europeas finalizaron en terreno positivo, con Londres y Fráncfort subiendo 0,8%, mientras que Tokio retrocedió y los mercados chinos permanecieron cerrados por el Año Nuevo Lunar.
EFE/ Cati Cladera
En el Reino Unido, los datos oficiales mostraron que el desempleo alcanzó un 5,2% en el último trimestre, el nivel más alto en cinco años, lo que aumenta la probabilidad de que el Banco de Inglaterra reduzca su tasa de interés de referencia el mes próximo. En el mercado de divisas, el dólar estadounidense se debilitó frente al yen.
Por otro lado, la Cámara de Industria y Comercio de Alemania advirtió que la mayor economía europea no se recuperará en 2026, debido a la persistente incertidumbre geopolítica, los altos costos y la débil demanda interna. Alemania apenas logró un crecimiento moderado en 2025, tras dos años de recesión.
En el sector corporativo, las acciones del gigante agroquímico Bayer subieron cerca de ocho por ciento luego de que su filial Monsanto propusiera un acuerdo de hasta USD 7.250 millones para resolver demandas colectivas en Estados Unidos, relacionadas con el supuesto vínculo entre el herbicida Roundup y el cáncer en sangre, lo que podría cerrar años de litigios costosos.
Mientras tanto, los inversores siguieron de cerca las negociaciones mediadas por Estados Unidos entre Ucrania y Rusia en Ginebra. Un asistente del equipo negociador de Kiev informó que las conversaciones continuarán el miércoles, y una eventual resolución podría allanar el camino para el levantamiento de sanciones y el incremento de los flujos petroleros hacia los mercados internacionales.
(Con información de AFP y Bloomberg)
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