President Joe Biden arrives in Greensboro today to address economics at NC A&T State University

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) — President Joe Biden is in North Carolina Thursday to discuss his efforts to expand manufacturing, rebuild supply chains and bring down inflation.

The trip comes on the heels of a recent CPI report that showed inflation has risen to 8.5% over the past 12 months, with energy bills making up the bulk of the totals.

Still, Biden argues that despite the inflation numbers, the economy is generally strong. To defend that claim, he points to the fact that America now has 7.9 million more jobs than when he took office — the biggest job gain in the first 14 months of a presidency. Employee wages and the stock market are also soaring like never before.

Despite these metrics, Biden’s approval rating is at an all-time low. Many of the jobs Biden has found recognition for are simply people returning to jobs that have been halted or eliminated during the pandemic. That no doubt plays a part in why the President is heading out to promote his economic plan.

The President spoke Thursday afternoon at North Carolina A&T University.

He chose Greensboro because it is an example of a “regional manufacturing ecosystem” that Biden hopes to emulate across the country. In particular, he said Greensboro has a good cohesion of a skilled workforce, high-quality research and extensive public-private partnerships.

He commended NCA&T for its success in educating the region’s workforce. The nation’s largest HBCU enrolls more than 13,000 students and plays a big role in moving Greensboro forward. The school also annually graduates the most black engineers of any university in the country.

There were approximately 250-300 students, faculty, local elected officials, and business and community leaders in attendance.

WATCH: President Biden’s full speech at NC A&T State University

Biden will use this information to promote his Bipartisan Innovation Act. This law aims to help improve and diversify STEM education across the country, as well as increase funding for manufacturing and development.

“The President has focused on the energy sector and what we can do to reduce costs at the pump. Just yesterday he was in Iowa talking about making 15% ethanol gasoline available to Americans across the country. This is about bringing prices down by making it more accessible. This comes on top of a historic strategic oil reserve release announced by the President a few weeks ago. One million barrels a day for the next six months as a bridge during the war in Ukraine- We hope and expect these cost savings will be passed on to consumers when they hit the pumps,” said the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Chris Meagher, opposite ABC11.

Much of the President’s speech will address rising energy costs.

Both supply chain problems and rising gas prices are being felt in several other countries, with Meagher pointing to ongoing talks with world leaders to try to ease the challenges.

“One of the things he did was work with the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach where a lot of our merchandise comes in to get it running 24/7, so we’re getting merchandise from the sup to the shelf even faster to move containers through these ports even faster. After announcing the historic release from the strategic oil reserve a few months ago, many countries followed suit and announced their own releases when it comes to oil,” Meagher said.

Meagher pointed to the impact that the ongoing war in Ukraine was having on the oil sector, with gas prices rising 18.3% between February and March. Crude oil prices have been choppy for the past five weeks, surging to over $123 a barrel on March 8 before falling to $95 a barrel just eight days later; on Wednesday the price was $104 a barrel. Since the invasion began, crude oil prices are up about 9%, despite earlier increases. Part of the rising costs is also due to employees returning to the office more frequently and traveling more frequently. While unemployment figures have returned to pre-pandemic levels, wages have not kept pace with inflation.

“Certainly (President Biden) will try to emphasize that he is doing everything he can. I suspect he will try to stress the limits of what he can do about it. One of the interesting things here from a political science perspective, presidents get too much blame for the economy when things are bad and too much credit when things are good. So in reality he’s probably getting too much credit for unemployment and too much blame for inflation,” said Dr. Steven Greene, a policy professor at NC State.

Senator Thom Tillis, R-NC, had strongly criticized Biden’s policies before the President’s visit.

“Hard-working North Carolinians are sick of inflation and sick of President Biden’s excuses,” Tillis said. “You see the aftermath of his failed economic agenda every time you go to the grocery store and fill up your gas tank. The worst inflation in more than 40 years has been fueled by Congressional Democrats and the Biden-Harris administration recklessly spending and squandering trillions over the past 15 months. To date, President Biden’s only response has been to blame everyone else for his decisions and impose a multi-trillion dollar tax and spending spree that would exacerbate inflation. Our country desperately needs a new direction to get our economy back on track.”

Republicans have consistently highlighted rising inflation, a focus during former President Donald Trump’s visit to Selma Saturday night, where he appeared alongside a number of election officials. During his hour-long address, Trump emphasized a number of endorsements ahead of next month’s primary.

“While I’m glad President Biden is visiting North Carolina today, what he is here to sell to the people of North Carolina is nothing more than snake oil,” said North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R -Cleveland. “As he continues to overspend, inflation continues to soar with no end in sight. Gas prices go up. The burden on taxpayers and businesses is greater than ever, and each of us is feeling the impact of poor Biden policy on our daily lives.

“We took a different approach in North Carolina, and it’s working,” Moore continued. “We cannot spend our way to prosperity. Instead of mounting debt, our government has a surplus thanks to responsible spending. Because of this, and despite the difficulties caused by poor Biden policy, businesses are flocking to our state and taxpayers have more cash in their pockets. Maybe the President can take a few pointers from North Carolina.”

The Republican National Committee said Biden’s policies have caused particular pain for the tar heel state.

The RNC noted that the average price of gas in North Carolina hit a record high of $4.19 a gallon last month, although prices have declined slightly since then. The state has seen costs rise faster than the national average, with South consumer prices up 9.1 percent since last year and North Carolina’s unemployment rate ranks 23rd in the state, behind 19 Republican-led states.

“The only thing less popular in North Carolina than Joe Biden is people using ‘barbecue’ as a verb,” ​​RNC spokeswoman Savannah Viar said.

Historically, the party without power — in this case, the Republicans — performs strongly in the midterm elections, though Greene noted a lot can change by November.

Thursday was Biden’s first visit to North Carolina since November, when he met with troops at Fort Bragg ahead of Thanksgiving. North Carolina, which has emerged as one of the most competitive states in the country, is likely to draw increased national attention as midterms approaches.

“We should definitely expect prominent national figures from both political parties to campaign hard for this Senate seat, and certainly we’ll be right in the middle of it (in) 2024,” Greene said.

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