US Pres. highlights administration's achievements since taking office last Jan.

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump delivered a national address outlining his administration's key accomplishments during the first 11 months of his current term, mainly economic performance, price reductions, and easing inflation pressures that escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic and led to continued economic repercussions.
"Tonight, after 11 months, our border is secure, inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down, our nation is strong, America is respected, and our country is back," Trump said on Wednesday.
"We're poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen," he added. "When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years... which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans." Trump claimed that his administration had brought about "more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history," adding, "There has never been anything like it." He sharply criticized previous leadership, saying that over the past four years the US had been governed by politicians who, in his view, fought only "for the insiders, illegal aliens, career criminals, corporate lobbyists, prisoners, terrorists, and above all, foreign nations, which took advantage of us at levels never seen before." He added, "But now, you have a president who fights for the law-abiding, hardworking people of our country-the ones who make this nation run." Trump argued that under President Joe Biden, car prices rose by 22 percent- and in some states by 30 percent or more- gasoline prices increased between 30 and 50 percent, hotel rates climbed 37 percent, and airfares by 31 percent. "Now, under our leadership, they are all coming down and coming down fast," he said.
The president also repeated his claim that the US had secured "a record-breaking USD 18 trillion dollars of investment into the United States," which he said translated into job creation, higher wages, economic growth, factory openings, and strengthened national security.
Trump touched on a range of additional topics, including US efforts to mediate an end to the war in Gaza, other global military conflicts, trade policy and tariffs, and counter-narcotics initiatives. (end) asj.dss