Trump sees US suffer biggest inflation jump since Biden was in office

The Trump administration is facing its latest dismal economic news: Wholesale inflation has soared 6 percent in a year to the highest level since 2022 during the Biden administration.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that its producer price index — a measure of inflation before it reaches consumers — rose 1.4 percent in April. That figure more than doubled March’s 0.7 percent increase and marked the largest monthly gain since March 2022.

The reading came in well above expectations, with economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecasting a 0.5 percent rise. Experts view wholesale inflation as an early indicator of where consumer inflation — the rate at which the cost of goods and services changes over time — may be heading.

The latest data arrives one day after the Labor Department announced that the consumer price index leapt up 3.8 percent year-over-year in April, the biggest annual increase in over three years.

The shift was largely fueled by surging energy prices tied to the ongoing war with Iran. Amid the conflict, Iran — and later the U.S. — imposed blockades on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade chokepoint that carried about 20 percent of global oil supplies before the war.

In recent weeks, oil prices have hovered around $100-a-barrel. On Wednesday, the average price for a gallon of gasoline stood at $4.51, up from $2.98 two days before the conflict broke out, according to AAA.

“If the Strait doesn’t re-open soon, I believe we could see the national average price of gasoline reaching $5/gal as early as sometime in June,” Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Tuesday.

The latest financial figures add to growing evidence that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are facing mounting pressure over the economy as the midterm elections approach.

In a YouGov survey released on May 3, 61 percent of respondents said the U.S. economy is getting worse — the largest such figure since 2022.

In a CNN poll published this week, about three in four Americans said they believe Trump’s policies have driven the cost of living up, with most people blaming his decision to go to war with Iran and his sweeping tariff regime as driving factors. In the poll, the president’s approval rating on the economy hit a new low, with 7 in 10 respondents forecasting a recession in the next year.

Still, Trump appears largely unfazed by growing signs that many Americans are feeling financially strained.

Before departing for China on Tuesday, the 79-year-old president was asked by reporters whether “Americans’ financial situations” were driving him to make a deal with Iran.

“Not even a little bit,” Trump responded. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran — they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”

The White House has also pushed back against claims that the economy is in dire straits, asserting last week that experts “keep getting it wrong” and that “the American economy remains on a solid trajectory.” The administration pointed to the latest employment figures, which showed 115,000 jobs were added in April.

Other Republicans, though, have taken a less sanguine tone, with some anticipating a midterm shellacking should current conditions persist.

“Everybody is pretty realistic about the fact that holding the House is going to be extremely difficult,” an unnamed source close to the White House told Politico earlier this month. “Every day the war goes on, every day gas prices hover around five bucks, it makes it less and less likely, and it’s already very unlikely.”

At the same time, Democrats have repeatedly hammered the administration on the economy — as recent polling indicates voters now trust Republicans less on pocketbook issues than Democrats for the first time in years.

“Americans are demanding help with the cost-of-living crisis, but President Trump would rather start another war, potentially driving up energy prices, than listen to them,” Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro said earlier this year.