{"id":245872,"date":"2026-01-19T06:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/245872\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T06:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:27:24","slug":"us-inflation-held-firm-in-december-amid-pressure-on-trump-over-cost-of-living-us-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/245872\/","title":{"rendered":"US inflation held firm in December amid pressure on Trump over cost of living | US economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

US inflation held firm last month as Donald Trump<\/a> faces mounting pressure over the cost of living for millions of Americans.<\/p>\n

The closely watched consumer price index rose 2.7% in the year to December, in line with the previous month, according to official data published on Tuesday morning, ahead of a speech by the US president on the economy.<\/p>\n

Chart of US inflation<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest reading was broadly in line with economists\u2019 expectations last month, and significantly above the Federal Reserve\u2019s target for 2% inflation. Food prices and housing costs lifted the index higher in December.<\/p>\n

On a month-to-month basis, CPI increased 0.3%. The so-called \u201ccore\u201d index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2% \u2013 growth that Samuel Tombs, chief US economist, said was \u201cdriven by the unwind of distortions\u201d caused by the longest US government shutdown in history<\/a>, \u201crather than strong underlying momentum\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has claimed prices are falling, and blamed lingering inflation on the Biden administration, which left office almost a year ago. Inflation<\/a> hit a 40-year high in the US in June 2022 at 9.1%, as economies across the globe grappled with rapid price growth due to distortions caused by the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n

Polls have shown consumers are shifting affordability blame on to the Trump administration. Twice as many Americans believe their financial security is getting worse<\/a> rather than better, according to a Harris Poll conducted for the Guardian last month, and they are increasingly blaming the White House.<\/p>\n

The president is due to deliver a speech on the economy in Detroit later on Tuesday. He has announced a series of eye-catching measures in recent days, including a cap on credit card interest rates<\/a> and a ban on large institutional investors buying single-family homes<\/a>, in a bid to address affordability concerns.<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, Trump hailed \u201cGreat (LOW!) Inflation numbers\u201d and appeared to claim that his controversial tariffs strategy \u2013 which many economists have warned risks driving up prices \u2013 was responsible.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Warren, Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said: \u201cFor a year now, Donald Trump<\/a> has raised costs for families despite his promise to lower them \u2018on day one\u2019. Today\u2019s data shows that inflation is still higher than it was when President Trump started his trade war in April. And annual inflation on groceries and utilities has risen compared to a year ago, hitting household budgets hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest inflation data was released amid an extraordinary battle for control of the US Federal Reserve, which is tasked with steering the economy. Although the central bank cut interest rates three times last year, it defied Trump\u2019s push for deeper cuts \u2013 prompting intense criticism from the president.<\/p>\n

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, revealed <\/a>on Sunday that the Department of Justice had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas on Friday, threatening a criminal indictment, escalating fears about the Trump administration\u2019s threats to the central bank\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US inflation held firm last month as Donald Trump faces mounting pressure over the cost of living for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-245872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}