Price growth cooled in March as Trump prepared to widen his trade war
Consumer price growth cooled in March as the White House prepared far-reaching global tariffs, with a key inflation measure falling to its lowest level since March 2021.
Consumer price growth cooled in March as the White House prepared far-reaching global tariffs, with a key inflation measure falling to its lowest level since March 2021.
The consumer price index slowed to an annual rate of 2.4%, less than expected and below the 2.8% notched the month before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. Inflation rose just 0.1% between February and March, in line with forecasts and below the 0.2% monthly reading seen in February.
A 12-month measure of price growth that excludes volatile food and energy prices climbed 2.8%, the smallest annual increase for that so-called core reading since March 2021. The pace of price hikes for airfare, car insurance, used vehicles and recreation all eased in March.
Despite the favorable reading, concerns remain widespread that President Donald Trump’s unprecedented and ever-changing tariff agenda — which he abruptly softened Wednesday — will bring rising prices in the coming months.
“Today’s softer than expected CPI release feels backward looking given the large changes to trade policy seen in recent days,” Goldman Sachs analysts said Thursday morning. The bank warned that “tariff driven price increases [will] start to feed through to the inflation data” before long.
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