Inflation is down under Biden and Harris. Trump’s tariffs would send it soaring again.
Consumer prices are growing at the slowest rate since February 2021, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Consumer price growth has dropped to its lowest level since February 2021, according to data released on Oct. 10 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Experts say that if former President Donald Trump regains the White House and enacts his proposed tariffs, inflation levels will soar again.
According to the data, consumer prices increased 0.2% in September, as they had the previous two months. Overall inflation in the previous 12 months was 2.4%, close to pre-pandemic levels..
“We are starting to turn the corner on inflation,” said Sen. Martin Heinreich (D-NM), chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, in a statement. “We’re seeing the cost of energy fall, and in nearly every state, wages are outpacing inflation.”
White Trump and congressional Republicans have frequently blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for price increases, economists disagree and say the increases and inflation mostly stemmed from global supply chain problems caused in 2021 and 2022 by the COVID-19 pandemic and by energy market disruptions after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Biden/Harris administration and Democratic majorities in Congress responded with legislation to shore up supply chains and lower consumer costs, including the CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor production; the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to rebuild roads, bridges, and ports; and the Inflation Reduction Act to help consumers access clean energy, affordable health insurance, and cheaper prescription drugs. It also helped to avert a dockworkers strike in early October of this year that would have disrupted imports and exports through ports along the East and Gulf coasts.
In August, Harris proposed several additional steps to further lower consumer costs, including investments in home construction, new tax credits for parents and first-time homeowners, caps on out-of-pocket insulin and prescription drug costs for millions of Americans, and protections against grocery price gouging.
Trump has proposed new tariffs, taxes on all imported goods coming into the United States. Economists say such tariffs would reduce the nation’s gross domestic product and cost a typical family $3,900 more annually.
A September analysis of his economic plans by the Peterson Institute for International Economics think tank found they “would result in lower US national income, lower employment, and higher inflation than otherwise. In some cases, economic conditions recover over time, but in others the damage continues through 2040.” By 2028, the assessment predicted, Trump’s proposals could cause inflation to reach between 6% and 9.3%.
After then-President Trump imposed a 9% tariff on imported washing machines in 2017, the price of laundry equipment in the United States rose 9%, University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers said in a Sept. 11, 2024, social media post.
An analysis of Trump’s and Harris’ economic plans released in September by economists at Goldman Sachs found that Harris’ would increase GDP for 2025-2026, while Trump’s would reduce GDP, stunt job growth, and increase core inflation.