Cliff Notes – Donald Trump: Fact-checking the president’s Inflation Claims
- Donald Trump‘s assertion of having “ended inflation” contradicts official data, which recorded a rise to 2.4% in March, indicating that inflation had begun to decline prior to his second term.
- His tariff policy has been met with skepticism from economists, with fears it may lead to a recession; recent data showed a 0.3% contraction in the Economy and significant declines in imports from China.
- Trump’s claims about petrol prices, egg costs, and coal production have been fact-checked and found misleading, with actual figures showing higher averages than stated in his speech.
Donald Trump: Fact-checking the president’s Inflation Claims
Donald Trump has marked the 100th day of his second term with a campaign-style rally in Michigan – but his speech included exaggerated and misleading information.
Fact-checkers have been analysing his statements and matching it up with official data and trends.
Inflation
The president claimed his administration had “already ended inflation”, but last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics said while the rate slowed in March, it had in fact risen over the past year to 2.4%.
A bureau report said inflation was subsiding before Mr Trump’s tariffs were introduced.
The tariffs plunged financial markets into turmoil and have stoked fears of high inflation and even a recession.
Inflation started falling long before Mr Trump started his second term.
It peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Joe Biden‘s presidency from a low of 0.1% in May 2020 as the world went through the COVID pandemic.
And as of last December, it had fallen to 2.9%.
Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, said he sees a 90% chance of a recession by this summer if Mr Trump’s tariffs remain in place.