Vance says Trump administration has work to do on economy

Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration has “a lot of work to do” on the economy, a blunt acknowledgment that landed hours after Donald Trump brushed off Americans’ financial worries as a factor in his Iran strategy. Vance said the administration knew it had “a lot of work to do in order to deliver on the prosperity that the American people deserve,” a line that put him at odds with the president’s far more dismissive framing.

Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on May 12 that Americans’ financial situation was “not even a little bit” of a motivating factor in his thinking about Iran. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. Vance then sought to contain the backlash, saying Trump’s comments were being misrepresented and stressing that he agreed Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. He also said Trump was “hyperaware” of the economic problem and that they “talk about it all the time.”

The split came as the war with Iran continued to squeeze household budgets. ABC News reported that the conflict had driven soaring energy costs and that the latest inflation reading was the highest in three years, pushed higher by surging gasoline prices. TIME said the April inflation report showed the largest gain since May 2023, and that disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz had sent energy and other commodity prices higher. TIME also reported that the war had cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $29 billion so far and that the Pentagon was asking for nearly $1.45 trillion for the coming year, about 40% more than the U.S. spent this fiscal year, in part to replenish munitions used in the conflict.

The economic backdrop was already souring before Vance stepped to the microphones. FactCheck.org said on April 23 that unemployment had risen to 4.3%, job growth had slowed, inflation had worsened and consumer sentiment had hit a record low. A May 5 POLITICO report said a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found 65% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy and 76% disapproved of his handling of cost-of-living issues.

Republican leaders moved quickly to blunt the damage. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump could “tell you the president thinks about Americans’ financial situations” and said the two talked about it “constantly.” The episode underscored a political risk for Trump and Vance alike: voters were already linking the administration to higher prices, slower growth and deeper economic pessimism, even as Trump was in Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Iran was one of the central topics.