by Sharon Rondeau
(Dec. 17, 2025) — On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump announced he will be giving a major address at 9:00 PM Wednesday but gave no hint as to the topic or topics to be discussed.
“My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I look forward to ‘seeing’ you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
In an interview with NewsNation Tuesday evening, Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro suggested Trump’s main message would be on the measures his administration is taking to improve the U.S. economy.
The speech follows a jobs report released Tuesday showing 105,000 jobs were lost in October, the first month of the government shutdown, and 64,000 were gained in November. However, the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%.
The shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history, lasted 43 days. A Congressional Budget Office (CBS) report dated October 29, 2025 provided estimated costs of the shutdown at four-, six- and eight-week intervals.
In general, the report stated:
In CBO’s assessment, the shutdown will delay federal spending and have a negative effect on the economy that will mostly, but not entirely, reverse once the shutdown ends. The agency estimates that real gross domestic product (GDP), which has been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation, will be lower in the fourth quarter of 2025 than it would have been in the absence of a shutdown. Depending on its length, the government shutdown will reduce annualized real GDP growth in that quarter by 1.0 to 2.0 percentage points. After the shutdown, real GDP will be temporarily higher than it would have been otherwise. Although most of the decline in real GDP will be recovered eventually, CBO estimates that between $7 billion and $14 billion (in 2025 dollars) will not be.
The effects of the shutdown on the economy are uncertain. Those effects depend on decisions made by the Administration throughout the shutdown. In addition, how federal employees and contractors respond to the delay in compensation is uncertain.
Criticism of the administration’s approach to slowing inflation, which rose to an historic level during the Biden years, and ameliorate other economic ills and “pain” felt by average Americans has provided a drumbeat of media talking points.
Trump has touted the fact that gasoline prices have fallen to under $3.00/gallon on average and, in some places, is approaching $2.00/gallon or even surpassing that figure.
At 5:36 in the interview with News Nation, Navarro said, “You have to understand that it takes time to get inflation down and more robust growth up and that we are doing everything possible, and so being here talking with you, explaining what we’re doing, why the president’s going to be talking tomorrow night, is — the American people are fair people and they’re sophisticated in understanding, and what we have to do is message to them exactly what we’re doing, and we’re in this together, regardless of political party.”
Democrats have pointed to victories last month in the New York City mayoral race and the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races which focused on “affordability.”