The tariff-driven inflation that economists feared begins to emerge (TrumpTax is effing up the economy)
https://apnews.com/article/inflation-trump-fed-powell-prices-8842d6ebca9d1870983e678e578d2091
WASHINGTON (AP) Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as President Donald Trumps sweeping tariffs push up the cost of a range of goods, including furniture, clothing, and large appliances.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month.
Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for Trump, who promised during last years presidential campaign to immediately lower costs only to engage in a whipsawed frenzy of tariffs that have left businesses and consumers worried. Trump has declared that the U.S. effectively has no more inflation as he has attempted to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell into cutting short-term interest rates.
Yet the bump in inflation last month makes it more likely that the central bank will keep rates unchanged at the central banks next meeting in two weeks. Powell has said that he wants to see how the economy reacts to Trumps duties before reducing borrowing costs.