Inflation rose by one tenth of a percentage point to 2.4% for the year ending in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday in an update to the consumer price index. 

Forecasters had expected inflation to tick up to 2.5% in the CPI.

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Core inflation, a measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices, dropped a tenth of a percentage point to a 2.8% annual rate.

The increase in the headline rate of inflation suggests some renewed price pressure as President Donald Trump carries out a trade war involving heavy tariffs. Economists generally expect that the tariffs will have the effect of raising prices. 

In the month of May alone, prices rose 0.1%.

Officials at the Federal Reserve are watching the inflation numbers closely to determine whether to lower interest rates further to spur more economic activity or to forgo further rate cuts to try to tamp down inflation.

The Fed cut rates by a whole percentage point last year. As inflation proved sticky, though, the central bank opted to hold interest rates steady at its January and March meetings.

The Fed’s goal is 2% annual inflation.

Inflation is also a major political issue for Republicans, who have already felt some backlash from voter anger about tariffs.

Trump and Republicans ran on lowering inflation, which got to its highest rates in decades under former President Joe Biden. Vanquishing inflation would provide a major advantage to Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

But, if inflation ticks back up and the Fed is forced to keep holding interest rates higher for longer, it will undoubtedly be used as fodder by Democrats on the campaign trail.

Trump himself and others in the administration have tried to press the Fed and Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, although he has pushed back on the notion that the White House has any sway over monetary policy.

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Last month, Trump met with Powell for the first time of his second term.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said afterward that Trump did push Powell to lower interest rates during the meeting, which was attended by several administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.