{"id":598929,"date":"2026-04-12T10:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/598929\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T10:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:46:31","slug":"trump-aides-caught-with-pants-down-as-iran-war-gooses-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/598929\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump aides caught with pants down as Iran war gooses inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"

New data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that\u00a0inflation<\/a>\u00a0soared in March thanks in large part to increased energy costs stemming from President Donald Trump\u2019s war with Iran.<\/p>\n

According<\/a>\u00a0to the BLS, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) posted a month-over-month gain of 0.9% in March, led by a 10.9% increase in energy prices including a massive 21.2% increase in gasoline.<\/p>\n

On a yearly basis, total prices rose by 3.3% from where they were in March 2025 \u2013 the highest annual inflation rate since April 2024.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the US Senate Finance Committee revealed Thursday that an adviser to the US Treasury Department admitted he was unaware of the agency doing any work to prepare for the economic fallout of Trump\u2019s war, which has plunged the global economy into chaos and\u00a0cost American drivers billions<\/a>\u00a0at the pump.<\/p>\n

What was Treasury doing?<\/p>\n

Sriprakash Kothari, a top adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trump\u2019s nominee to serve as assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy, told US Sen. Ron Wyden\u2019s (D-Ore.) staff behind closed doors that \u201cnot only did he not perform any work related to energy markets leading up to the war, but that he wasn\u2019t aware of anyone at Treasury who did,\u201d Wyden wrote in a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to Bessent.<\/p>\n

Wyden quotes Kothari as saying he did no work to prepare for economic impacts of the war \u201cleading up to the conflict,\u201d only started to work on it \u201csubsequent\u201d to its start on February 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen later asked to clarify this response, he reiterated that he had not performed any analysis or work related to energy markets, or any other economic facet, in the lead-up to military action in Iran,\u201d Wyden added. \u201cHe further told staff that the work he performed subsequently occurred after learning about the February 2026 strikes in the news. Mr. Kothari was then asked whether he was aware of anyone at Treasury performing analysis or work related to energy markets in the lead-up to potential military action in Iran, he responded that he was not aware of anyone performing any such work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wyden wrote that given the \u201crapidly growing affordability crisis\u201d in the US \u2013 a crisis intensified by Trump\u2019s war on Iran \u2013 \u201cit is unacceptable that Treasury may not have performed the most basic planning before it was launched.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery problem resulting from the conflict which we are seeing now,\u201d wrote Wyden, \u201cwas not only foreseeable but was predicted by the intelligence agencies, which reported as recently as last March that Iran was \u2018capable of inflicting severe damage to an attacker\u2019 and of \u2018disrupting shipping, particularly energy supplies, through the Strait of Hormuz.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In just six weeks, Trump\u2019s Iran war has cost American taxpayers\u00a0over $30 billion and counting<\/a>, and US drivers collectively spent\u00a0over $8 billion more on gas<\/a>\u00a0during the first month of the illegal assault, which sent\u00a0oil<\/a>\u00a0prices surging.<\/p>\n

CNN\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0last month that the\u00a0Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0\u201csignificantly underestimated Iran\u2019s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to\u00a0US military<\/a>\u00a0strikes while planning the ongoing operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile key officials from the departments of Energy and Treasury were present for some of the official planning meetings about the operation before it started,\u201d CNN reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the discussions, \u201cthe agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inflation comments<\/p>\n

University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers\u00a0commented<\/a>\u00a0in a\u00a0social media<\/a>\u00a0post that inflation in March was \u201cup sharply, and there\u2019s more to come,\u201d while describing the data as \u201cthe first numbers showing economic effects of the war in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York Times<\/a>\u00a0economics reporter Ben Casselman\u00a0observed<\/a>\u00a0that the 3.3% rise in inflation was \u201cthe fastest inflation rate of Trump\u2019s second term,\u201d and that \u201cthe jump was driven almost entirely by higher energy prices, the direct result of the war with Iran.\u201dHeather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, flagged a particularly worrying aspect of the BLS report, which is that \u201cwage growth is almost entirely eaten up by inflation now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWage growth was +3.5% in March for the past 12 months. Inflation was +3.3% in March for the past 12 months,\u201d Long\u00a0explained<\/a>. \u201cThis is the squeeze many households are feeling. Their pay won\u2019t be able to keep up with this level of inflation. (And yes it was the same situtation in 2022).\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director for policy and advocacy at\u00a0Groundwork Collaborative<\/a>,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that the spike in inflation \u201ccomes as no shock to anyone who has filled up their gas tank in the past month,\u201d and predicted the damage wouldn\u2019t be limited to fuel prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe toll of Trump\u2019s war in Iran won\u2019t stop at the pump,\u201d Pancotti said. \u201cPrice hikes on summer vacations, groceries, and electronics are coming down the pike as his war stokes chaos in supply chains around the world. By pursuing this illegal war, the president has made it clear that he\u2019s putting American families last.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Republican Party<\/a>\u00a0tried to put its best spin on the numbers by boasting that core inflation, which excludes the prices of food and energy, did not rise as much as anticipated.<\/p>\n

\u201cCore inflation just came in LOWER than expected for the month of March!\u201d the\u00a0GOP<\/a>\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0in a social media post. \u201cPresident Trump continues defying the \u2018experts\u2019 and beating expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the GOP\u2019s post got several angry replies from followers who argued that core inflation mattered little when energy prices are spiking and gas prices are\u00a0averaging<\/a>\u00a0$4.15 per gallon.<\/p>\n

As Vox senior editor Benji Sarlin noted, former President Joe Biden\u2019s\u00a0White House<\/a>\u00a0regularly pointed to core inflation numbers while trying to ease voters\u2019 anxiety about rising prices, but with little success.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongrats to all the Trump White House folks explaining the difference between topline inflation and core inflation during an\u00a0oil<\/a>\u00a0shock today, I\u2019m sure the Biden WH alums will be very sympathetic,\u201d Sarlin\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cPeople on social media also love it when you say inflation is actually pretty good if you just exclude gas, try it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Common Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that\u00a0inflation\u00a0soared in March thanks in large part to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13494,45,49,48,1376,226999,7326,51210,153670],"class_list":["post-598929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-block-3","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran-war-2026","tag-us-economy","tag-us-inflation","tag-us-treasury-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}