Trump acknowledges ‘inflation is back’ but blames Biden
President Donald Trump is right about the return of inflation: Consumer prices rose last month, in particular the cost of eggs.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday night, acknowledged that inflation is on the rise again — bucking his campaign promise to lower prices immediately upon taking office. But he said the Biden administration’s runaway spending is to blame.
“Inflation is back,” Trump said. “I had nothing to do with it. These people have — have run the country. They spent money like nobody has ever spent.”
Trump is right about the return of inflation: Consumer prices rose much more than expected last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week — buoyed in particular by surging fuel and egg prices. January marked the biggest monthly increase since August 2023. And prices were 3% higher year-over-year for the first time since June 2024.
The president is also right that he can’t shoulder much of the blame: Former President Joe Biden occupied the Oval Office for 19 ½ of the 31 days covered by the most recent report.
But Trump’s argument that Biden is to blame for inflation is up for debate. Economists disagree about why, exactly, inflation surged after Biden became president before coming back down to near-normal levels. Prices rose throughout Biden’s first year in office and inflation spiked in his second year, reaching a 40-year high in June 2022 before falling.
