Joe Biden and Donald Trump 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Jay Paul | Reuters
Donald Trump on Wednesday pounced on President Joe Biden after March’s consumer price index came in higher than expected, notching another data point that could signal inflation heating back up and tempering hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in the near future.
“INFLATION is BACK—and RAGING!,” the former president wrote in a Truth Social post. “The Fed will never be able to credibly lower interest rates, because they want to protect the worst President in the history of the Untied States!”
Consumer prices rose 0.4% in March, slightly above economists’ expectations of 0.3%. That monthly rate pushed the year-over-year increase to 3.5%, higher than the 3.4% expectation.
The index has ticked higher than anticipated almost every month since November, possibly marking an unwelcome trend for Biden as the economy becomes the centerpiece of the 2024 election.
“I’m calling on corporations, including grocery retailers, to use record profits to reduce prices,” Biden said in a statement following the CPI report.
“Congressional Republicans want to slash taxes for billionaires and big corporations, while helping special interests and Big Pharma raise prices. I won’t let them,” he added.
Biden has continually blamed big corporations and Republicans for the lingering high costs of living that consumers still report feeling while touting economic gains from his own policies.
By metrics like gross domestic product and unemployment, the U.S. economy is currently doing well, especially relative to other large, developed nations like Canada, Japan or Germany.
However, sticky inflation and a large budget deficit are still thorns in the sides of the White House and Biden’s campaign, a message that Trump has been amplifying.
“We are a nation whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin,” Trump said at a March 9 rally in Georgia.
Consumer confidence has begun to show glimmers of optimism, though voter polling has found that Americans have a rosy memory of the economy under Trump.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct date Donald Trump referred to the economy as a “cesspool of ruin” at a Georgia rally.