HEBRON, Ky. — President Donald Trump toured an Ohio pharmaceutical company on Wednesday and campaigned in the nearby Kentucky district of a Republican in Congress he’d like to see defeated — attempting to project political and economic strength as war in Iran has scrambled financial markets and hurt his poll numbers.

Trump toured Thermo Fisher Scientific in suburban Cincinnati, talking up his administration’s efforts to persuade major manufacturers to lower prescription medication prices so that they are closer to what is charged abroad.

The trip is a test of Trump’s ability to cleanse his party of those who oppose him, but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

“I used some very strong negotiating talent to get every single country to almost immediately approve. I threatened them with tariffs,” he told reporters.

The Supreme Court recently struck down sweeping tariffs that Trump’s administration had imposed around the world to boost his economic policies. But the president used an executive order to restore some levies, and says his push to lower drug costs can help Republicans ahead of November’s midterms.

His trip, however, was overshadowed by the military action in Iran, which Trump said was “an excursion that will keep us out of a war.” He added of Tehran, “for them, it’s a war. For us, it’s turned out to be easier than we thought.”

In an interview with Cincinnati’s WKRC-TV CBS, Trump said he planned to tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to bring down gasoline prices.

“Right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” Trump said, without providing details.

That interview followed the president saying during the drug company facility tour that stock markets had been volatile as gas prices have risen, saying, “I figured we’d be hit a little bit. But, we were hit probably less than I thought.”

“We’ll be back on track in a pretty short while,” Trump said. “Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down.”

He also called the turmoil “just a matter of war,” saying “that happens,” while adding, “I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought.”

Trump next headed to Hebron, Kentucky, in the district of Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the few congressional Republicans who has dared defy Trump on Iran and other major issues. Trump has endorsed a GOP primary challenger to Massie, Ed Gallrein.

The president spent more time decrying his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, than Massie, though.

He ticked off his administration’s accomplishments and told the crowd, “The midterms are going to be very, very important to keep it going.”

Trump relished saying, “Kenn-tucky,” proclaiming that he was pronouncing it like a resident. He said the stock market had set repeatedly reached new highs since he was reelected in 2024, but didn’t mention markets more recently having dropped.

“We’re making more things in the USA than we ever have,” Trump said. When he mentioned Iran, the crowd chanted, “USA! USA!”

“They don’t know what the hell hit them,” Trump said of U.S. and Israel strikes there. “They didn’t expect anything like this.”

Polls showed that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump’s handling of the economy even before the conflict with Iran began, and fighting there has derailed Trump’s messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.

Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls — which the White House had previously hailed as “blockbuster.”

After Democrats pushing the message that the everyday cost of living remained too high won the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races in November, the White House announced that Trump would travel the country more frequently. It was an attempt to show that he’s taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous about still-rising prices and economic growth.