Um, of course it does. It affects all commodities.
But anyway, you're right on Trump. In fact, most people don't know that in 2019 when the economy was so strong pre-Covid, there was actually some slight quantitative tightening going on. For the economy to grow like it did in the face of that was pretty incredible in this day and age when most "growth" comes from money-printing. But I have no doubt they did that at least in part to hurt Trump.
Incorrect. U.S. interest rates have virtually no influence on the prices of imported crude oil. They influence other factors like mortgages and credit card rates, but not oil prices. Crude oil is a traded commodity, yes, but interest rates typically impact U.S. companies and their respective commodities, not ones controlled and traded in the international markets. OPEC (and foreign oil barons) controls oil prices, not interest rates.
Trump also inherited a relatively robust economy, but it really took off when he rightfully started cutting regulations. That said, he then hurt himself when he imposed the tariffs on China because it forced price increases rather than create opportunities for US companies to manufacture the same goods as those imported. Had he imposed a flat federal tax rate, then the tariffs would’ve made sense, but his tax plan didn’t reduce the tax rate enough to offset the tariffs.
