Consumers call for a lifeline as Trump's tariff 'Liberation Day' nears
President Donald Trump’s expanding trade war is ricocheting through corporate boardrooms and driving up economic pessimism at kitchen tables.
Consumers’ economic pessimism is worsening as inflation stays hot and a series of new reports flash alarms days before the White House expands its trade war.
In February — with much of President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda announced but not yet implemented — stubborn inflation collided with tepid spending, a closely watched federal report showed Friday. The data indicated many households are paring back on hotel stays and dining out to cover pricier groceries and health care.
The financial firm ING called the new numbers “ugly” and flagged ongoing stagflation risks, saying “we are moving in the wrong direction” as Trump’s trade war and spending cuts threaten to worsen things.
Recent economic data shows many households are cutting back on dining out.David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWells Fargo analysts, who similarly warned of an “ugly” quarter ahead, said if there’s one “silver lining” to the report, it’s that “income growth was broad and supported by decent wage gains.” But “to judge from consumers’ own reported inflation expectations, which have been rising, they are going to need the extra support,” they wrote.
Consumers’ attitudes are indeed growing gloomier.
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