Reversing Biden’s Red Tape: Trump’s Deregulation Agenda Drives Down Inflation

U.S. inflation fell last month, with core prices at their lowest level in four years. It’s a harbinger for future price drops to come, thanks to planned spending cuts and tax reforms that will drop inflation further. 

Inflation will also likely decline thanks to President Donald Trump’s herculean deregulation efforts. The White House estimates that already since the start of the second Trump administration, Americans are saving $180 billion in regulatory costs—$2,100 for a family of four.

In 2024, the Biden administration set an all-time record by publishing 107,262 pages of final rules, proposed rules, and other public notices in the Federal Register that have the force of law.

The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. Donate now

The Trump White House estimates that during its four years, the Biden administration added more than $1.8 trillion, or $21,090 per family of four, in new regulatory costs, far surpassing any other administration.

The Trump administration estimates that 72% of that Biden regulatory burden ($1.3 trillion or $15,457 per family of four) came from rules at the Environmental Protection Agency. Under the Biden regime, the EPA slapped on several draconian Green New Deal measures.

Even after the flurry of initial executive orders from Trump after his inauguration, this month, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced even greater regulatory reforms, which the White House is calling the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”

The Institute for Energy Research noted this would entail reviewing 31 of the costliest regulations EPA regulators imposed—with the intent of reversing them. These regulations include backdoor electric vehicle mandates, the greenhouse gas endangerment finding, the Clean Power Plan, the social cost of carbon, and the mercury and air toxicity standards.

Other Trump executive orders also have the potential to reduce inflation by repealing regulations that choked or outright banned energy production and the mining of critical minerals.

In addition to unleashing American energy, the Trump administration also suspended enforcement of invasive, burdensome reporting requirements that saddled small businesses with unnecessary red tape.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a group of nearly 300,000 small and independent business owners, heralded this move, saying it “greatly appreciates President Trump’s strong support in this important effort to protect America’s small business owners from what he correctly labeled an ‘outrageous and invasive’ Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement.”

This reporting requirement created burdensome paperwork (e.g. documentation filings about a business’ ownership structure required by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the Treasury Department) without much proven public benefit, yet failure to file could have resulted in fines up to $10,000 or more and possible jail time.

Trump’s Small Business Administration also implemented a series of reforms to put American citizens first—including requiring citizenship verification on loan applications and relocating offices out of so-called sanctuary cities.

As agency heads work with the Department of Government Efficiency to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, they should not be halted by any future needless government shutdown. A whopping 75% of Americans support the Trump deregulatory, cost-cutting agenda. They want Democrats to join that mission.

The regulatory red tape added during the Biden administration alone would have cost each American family nearly $50,000 over 10 years, according to a Committee to Unleash Prosperity report by Trump economist Casey Mulligan, a University of Chicago professor. But under executive orders from Trump, these burdensome regulations are beginning to halt.

Trump’s key changes to lower inflation through deregulation and increased energy production—in addition to his plans for spending and tax cuts—offer a more prosperous future for American families.

Carrie Sheffield is a senior policy analyst for the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women’s Forum.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.