The White House announced that customs and tariff revenue has exceeded $113 billion since President Donald Trump took office, contributing to the first monthly budget surplus in nearly a decade, recorded in June.

At the White House press briefing, on July 17, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared, “We are truly entering a golden age as a result of these pro-growth and America First trade policies.”

Leavitt highlighted that prices paid to American businesses remained flat in June, lower than predictions from all 50 forecasters in a Bloomberg survey. Core inflation, which she described as “the best measure of inflation,” also came in below expectations.

“Since President Trump took office, core inflation has tracked at just 2.1 percent overall and is coming below or at economists’ expectations every single month,” she said. 

Leavitt added that “Wages are growing at a strong pace, and prices are falling for everyday Americans,” pointing to declines in the prices of new and used vehicles, airfares, gasoline, fuel, oil, energy commodities, hotels, public transportation, and fresh vegetables compared to the previous year.

“As we said all along, trust in President Trump,” she continued. “The American Dream is back,” she said asserting that American families are already seeing the benefits of what she termed “an incredible economic turnaround” within just six months.

Addressing tariffs, Leavitt stated that President Trump has ended the era of “economic surrender” by introducing strong tariff measures to support American workers and businesses and to rebalance U.S. trade agreements.

“Despite all of the doom casting from the so-called experts claiming that these tariffs would be the end of the world as we know it, the opposite has occurred,” she said.

Leavitt echoed the President’s stance that tariffs are not “inflationary.” “In reality, tariffs are a ‘source of massive revenue,’” she said, reiterating the administration’s position that tariffs have brought in historic levels of investment. 

“We’re seeing trillions of dollars in private investment pour into our country right now because companies around this world want to make their products right here with American labor and not have to pay any tariffs at all,” she noted. 

She also referenced the Senate’s passage of President Trump’s $9 billion rescissions package on July 16, which she said would “help restore fiscal sanity” by rescinding billions in foreign aid and ending taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR. These “Two media organizations have ridiculously used federal dollars to push a partisan agenda for many years,” she said.

Leavitt urged the House to follow suit and quickly pass the legislation.

On July 18, the House of Representatives approved the package. “We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.

President Trump celebrated the move in a Truth Social post. “House approves nine-billion-dollar cuts package, including atrocious NPR and public broadcasting, where billions of dollars a year were wasted,” he wrote. “Republicans have tried doing this for 40 years, and failed… But no more. This is Big.”

Turning to immigration enforcement, Leavitt said President Trump has delivered on his promise to “end the illegal alien invasion.” She reported that the border is now sealed and that deportations have increased.

“This past weekend, our brave ICE agents were arresting violent criminal illegal aliens all across the country,” she said, describing ICE personnel as “heroes” and praising their work to remove dangerous individuals from American communities. 

The President continues to support ICE agents who are doing their job to keep all Americans safe, according to her. 

Leavitt also addressed concerns about the President’s health, specifically bruising on his hands and swelling in his legs. “In the effort of transparency, the President wanted me to share a note from his physician with all of you today,” she said, providing details from the official White House medical report.

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