The Commerce Department revealed on Thursday that inflation increased to 3.8% in April, the highest it has been since May 2023. The latest bad economic news follows a performance by President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday where he repeatedly downplayed how Americans are hurting under his presidency.
The rate of inflation was up from the 3.5% measured in March and was attributed to increased costs for staples like gas, groceries, electricity, and clothing.
For context, when Trump was sworn into office in January 2025, the inflation rate was 2.6% and had been declining over the last two years of President Joe Biden’s time in office. Biden inherited an economy in severe distress in 2021 following Trump’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden spent much of his presidency pushing legislation, primarily backed by congressional Democrats, to reverse the Trump decline.