Inflation rose at a cooler-than-expected rate in May, contradicting the concerns of some economists who predicted a bigger rise in prices due to President Trump’s economic policies.
Consumer prices increased 2.4% in May compared with a year ago, the Consumer Price Index report released Wednesday by the Labor Department showed. The figure is up a tick from a 2.3% yearly increase in April.
Prices rose just 0.1% from April to May, down from 0.2% the previous month, with inflationary pressures appearing muted. Core prices also dropped to 0.1% from 0.2%.
“Since President Trump took office, inflation has come in below economic expectations every single month,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. “Under President Trump’s strong leadership, America is beating Joe Biden’s record-high inflation crisis.”
Excluding food and energy, core prices rose 2.8%. The cost of groceries, toys, games, and large appliances rose, but the price of new and used cars, clothes, hotels and airfares all dropped from April to May.
Prices for groceries and eating out rose 0.3%. Gas prices dropped 2.6% last month. Egg prices fell 2.7%, but are still up 41.5% from a year ago.
The president has raged about high inflation since before he took office, blaming his predecessor, President Biden, for the stubbornly high costs. Inflation hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022 under Mr. Biden.
Mr. Trump has said the economy will get even better once Republicans pass his tax cuts laid out in his “big, beautiful bill.”
Alfredo Ortiz, CEO of the Job Creators Network, celebrated the report, saying Mr. Trump “has delivered on his promise to end Bidenflation.” He echoed Mr. Trump’s call for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
“Now it’s past time for the Federal Reserve to follow Trump’s advice to cut interest rates and improve small business access to credit,” Mr. Ortiz said. “Given these low inflation numbers, Chairman [Jerome] Powell should consider a 0.5% rate cut to provide the most support for Main Street and the broader economy.”
Vice President J.D. Vance also criticized the Fed on Wednesday for not cutting interest rates.
“The president has been saying this for a while, but it’s even more clear: the refusal by the Fed to cut rates is monetary malpractice,” Mr. Vance wrote in an X post.
The Federal Open Market Committee said the central bank decided to keep the benchmark rate between 4.25% and 4.5% last month, citing more “uncertainty” about the economic outlook.
Daniel Hornung, a senior fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former deputy director of the National Economic Council, said that the modest inflation report “was largely the result of slowing or price declines in areas that don’t have substantial near-term tariff exposure, like rent and airfares.”
“While importers building up their inventories ahead of tariffs going into effect may modestly delay when consumers begin to widely experience price increases, a number of tariff-impacted categories like major appliances and consumer electronics are likely seeing initial tariff-relation price increases that are only set to grow in the months ahead,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s tariff plan remains in flux, but there is a blanket 10% tariff on all imports and the threat of higher levies on countries that sell plenty of products to American consumers but don’t buy nearly as much from U.S. producers. Those heftier tariffs are currently on a 90-day pause pending negotiations.
China faces the highest tariffs, but negotiations between Beijing and the U.S. announced a “handshake” trade agreement Wednesday that eases China’s restrictions on rare earth minerals, which are essential to U.S.-made automobiles and military aircraft.
— This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.