Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) placed the blame for surging goods prices in the U.S. squarely on President Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies.
‘Chaotic Tariff Policies’ To Blame
On Wednesday, in a post on X, Warren said that she doesn’t always agree with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but “he is right,” she said, on his post-Federal Open Market Committee meeting remarks when he blamed price increases on “higher tariffs,” rather than “broader price pressures.”
Warren said, “prices are up 2.9% from last month,” while noting that they are higher than they were a year ago, which she says is the result of “Donald Trump's chaotic tariff policies.”
However, users on X were quick to point out that the 2.9% core personal consumption expenditure, or PCE, was a year-over-year figure, and not the monthly inflation, which stood at 0.3% last month.
Trump’s Tariffs Fueling Inflation
The Apollo Global chief economist says 72% of items in the Consumer Price Index are rising faster than the Fed's 2% inflation target, the highest level in three years. A year ago, 55% of the components were above the target. Apollo says the main reason for this increase is tariffs.
Other economists, such as Justin Wolfers from the University of Michigan, have echoed Warren’s views, saying that the growing inflationary pressures during a period of rising unemployment have put the Federal Reserve in a tough spot, largely due to the tariffs.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said, “I think we may be at the foothills of stagflation,” adding that the true economic impact of the tariffs is yet to be “fully felt.”
Photo courtesy: Sheila Fitzgerald via Shutterstock.com
Read More:
