The White House cheered a drop in inflation in February as President Donald Trump fends off growing scrutiny over his handling of the economy.
The latest consumer price index, released in a new report Wednesday, showed annual inflation dropping from 3% in January to 2.8% in February, while core inflation, which factors out food and energy prices, was recorded at 3.1%. Both metrics registered a 10th of a percentage point below forecasts.
“Today’s CPI report shows inflation is declining and the economy is moving in the right direction under President Trump. Core consumer prices, which is the best measure of inflation, dropped to its lowest level in FOUR years,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday morning. “This inflation report, much like last week’s jobs report, is far better than the media predicted and the so-called ‘experts’ expected. When will they learn to stop doubting President Trump?”
“As he successfully did in his first term, President Trump is driving down costs through massive deregulation and energy dominance,” Leavitt continued. “The entire Trump Administration will continue to focus on fixing the economic and inflation nightmare created by the Biden-Harris Administration to unlock the Golden Age of America.”
Though inflation still tracks above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate, Wednesday’s report does offer the Trump administration a moment of reprieve. Trump has stoked concerns of a recession over his aggressive trade war, while the avian flu has driven weeks of headlines over the high cost of eggs.
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Earlier this month, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow tracker forecast a 2.4% economic retraction in the first quarter of this year.
The Fed will meet next week to decide whether to cut interest rates as senior Trump administration officials have requested.