The Trump agenda has harmed the D.C. regional economy. Other regions should brace for impact.
Since the second Trump administration swept into office in January 2025, it has undertaken a range of damaging and destabilizing actions that have weakened the economy, undermined workers, hurt businesses and consumers, and threatened core elements of our democracy. While Trump has targeted numerous Democratic-led states and cities, the Washington, D.C., region has faced acute and prolonged harms since day one. From the first set of executive actions signed on Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has attacked people and businesses in the capital region repeatedly and intensely. These initial actions announced the presidents dubious claims of authority to fire large segments of the federal workforce, eliminate long-standing federal agencies and programs, and begin a campaign of illegal and inhumane mass deportations.
The Trump administrations damaging actions have been enabled and abetted by Republican members of Congress. Their passage of H.R. 1, the bill that the White House has referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), amplifies the administrations mass deportation agenda and shreds critical health care and food supports for lower-income families to finance tax cuts for the wealthy. This funding bill will only cause more pain in the years ahead for Washington, D.C.-area households and throughout the country.
Congress also passed a federal spending bill that constrained the District of Columbias ability to spend its own tax revenue (Koma 2025) and a resolution that may force the district to adopt local tax code changes that match the OBBBA, whether the city wants to or notchanges that will jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars for city programs (D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute 2026).
In this report, we assess the early indicators of the damage of Trumps actions and their effects on the Washington, D.C., regional economy, with particular attention to effects on workers and the labor market. We focus on this region due to its prominence as an early target of the Trump administration, in part due to its large federal workforce. Additionally, the districts unique status as a non-state means that its leaders have far less legal authority to resist Trumps interference than other target areas do.
https://www.epi.org/publication/the-trump-agenda-has-harmed-the-d-c-regional-economy-other-regions-should-brace-for-impact-economic-data-from-the-first-year-of-the-presidents-second-term/