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President Trump Headlines Economy Remarks in Rocky Mount, North Carolina

December 20, 2025 · The White House · 0:48:51

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

The White House event in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, billed as Remarks on the Economy, opened with a prayer and a succession of local speakers ahead of President Trump’s address. A firefighter thanked the President for no tax on overtime, saying it recognizes firefighters who stay late and work holidays, and thanked him for signing the Fallen Heroes Act, as he stated it. A hairstylist of nearly 27 years said families like hers — restaurant workers and blue-collar workers — will greatly benefit from no tax on tips and overtime, as she put it, and that every dollar counts toward paying bills, according to her remarks.

Builders Lori and Martin Aragona said interest rates and inflation decide their business: rates were 3 percent in the President’s first term and rose to 9 percent under President Biden, as they stated the comparison, and inflation had just come in at 2.7 percent against 9.1 percent under Biden, as Martin Aragona announced it to the crowd. They said plywood that cost $8 a board in the first term rose to $60 under Biden, adding about $15,000 to a home’s cost, as they stated the figures, and thanked the President for tariff policies supporting American-made products. State Senate leader Phil Berger and other speakers credited the President with rebuilding the economy and restoring the border, as they characterized his term, before the President’s own remarks on the economy that headline the event, according to the White House program.

Why it matters

The Rocky Mount event is the administration’s economy message in its retail form — named local workers attaching the tax provisions and the inflation comparison to their own households — staged in a swing-state community ahead of the President’s formal remarks, and it preserves the figures supporters were repeating on his behalf.

Scoreboard watch

Flagged for the scoreboard editor: the figures stated by speakers at this December 20, 2025 event — inflation at 2.7% versus 9.1% under the prior administration, and interest rates of 3% in the first term versus 9% under President Biden, each as stated by the speakers — for checking against published CPI and rate data. No verdict is given here.

Sources: The White House, “Remarks on the Economy”, Rocky Mount, NC, 2025-12-20 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-12-20). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.