What specific policy areas did Trump and Mamdani highlight as common ground after their meeting?

1. Shared focus on affordability and the cost‑of‑living crisis

Both Trump and Mamdani repeatedly steered attention to affordability as a top priority, with the conversation described as centering on rent, groceries and utilities and the broader “cost‑of‑living crisis” that matters to voters in both parties, an emphasis reflected in reporting across outlets including The Guardian and TIME ^{[2] [1]}; Reuters noted the meeting “focused not on places of disagreement…and focused on the shared purpose” of serving New Yorkers amid those pressures ^[4].

2. Housing: explicit agreement to build more homes

Housing was a named point of convergence: both men highlighted pro‑housing goals — Trump pointed to getting housing built and Mamdani emphasized protecting residents from displacement — and multiple outlets reported the pair pledged to work together on increasing housing supply as a lever on affordability ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

3. Public safety and crime reduction as a bargaining chip

Public safety and reducing crime emerged as another concrete shared priority; Trump said he had “very little doubt” they agreed on anti‑crime policies and several reports summarized that the pair discussed working together to tackle crime and preserve public safety even while underlying views on policing remain distinct ^{[5] [4] [6]}. While outlets flagged that substantive agreement on how to achieve that is uncertain, the public framing was cooperation on lowering crime rates ^[7].

4. Utilities and specific local price pressures: Con Edison and fuel costs

The meeting moved beyond abstract themes to targetable local complaints: Trump and Mamdani discussed high Con Edison rates and the lag between lower fuel prices and consumer utility bills, with Trump specifically saying the city and federal government would press the utility to “start lowering the rates” — a concrete, narrow policy focus reported by CNBC and The New York Times ^{[3] [5]}.

5. Food prices and groceries: populist, cross‑ideological terrain

Both leaders invoked grocery and food prices as part of the affordability conversation, a politically resonant, non‑ideological issue that outlets from Fox News to The Guardian said the men agreed to tackle together — framing the topic as accessible to voters across the spectrum and useful ground for quick cooperation ^{[8] [2]}.

6. Immigration and law‑enforcement: limited common ground, persistent differences

Although some reporting lists immigration and law enforcement among topics discussed, coverage indicates this was more a constrained area of accommodation than full agreement: outlets noted Mamdani criticized Trump’s ICE raids and immigration posture, and while both appeared to find “some common ground” on law enforcement and immigration, the reports emphasize lingering disagreements and that any consensus was shallow and issue‑specific ^{[9] [10] [7]}.

7. Political framing, motives and what was left unsaid

News organizations uniformly flagged political incentives behind the warm public framing: Trump’s praise served to neutralize an attack line and shift headlines, and Mamdani used the meeting to focus his mandate on economic issues rather than ideological clashes; several outlets cautioned against reading deep policy fusion from a cordial photo op and noted that no major new federal‑city policy deals were announced ^{[7] [11] [6]}.

8. Bottom line: pragmatic, local fixes over sweeping agreement

The concrete areas identified across the coverage — housing construction, affordability (rent, groceries, utilities), crime reduction and targeted pressure on Con Edison — represent pragmatic, locally focused policy terrain where both men signaled willingness to cooperate; however, reporting also makes clear that big ideological divides (foreign policy, broader immigration philosophy, policing approaches) remain and that the encounter produced more tone‑setting than binding policy commitments ^{[1] [3] [5] [7]}.