Trump declares 'I love inflation' in surprising response to surge in prices reaching 3-year-high
Topics: Donald Trump, Money, US News
Thomas Bamford
Featured Image Credit: Ken Cedeno / AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Money, US News
Donald Trump has made a bizarre response to this week's news that inflation has surged to a three-year high.
The US’s current inflation rate sits at a hefty 4%, the highest rate since April 2023.
This means the price of everyday goods like groceries, eggs, housing and more are on the up, with the conflict in Iran being a driving factor.
Many were left shocked when the President declared that he loved inflation, responding to the country's latest Consumer Price Index Inflation rate report.
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The President, 79, was speaking at the White House on Wednesday when he told reporters: "You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the US inflation rate has skyrocketed by about 4.25% over the last year, including a sharp increase of 0.5% in May alone.
Trump went on to talk about the war in Iran, which is one of the main causes of the rising cost of food, energy and gas.
He said: “As soon as this war is over, you know, I can say it now. Something you didn't know. Do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran until right now."
He added that last night, early last week, American forces “took out … 22 ships late at night with no lights because they don't have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it.”
He suggested that this was the reason why oil was only $85 a barrel, and not $250.
Trump continued: “Remember when I did this, I said, ‘Look, the one bad thing will be we hit the best economy we've ever hit,'” he said, recalling a conversation with his advisors.
"'The one thing we have to do now, we have just hit the highest stock market in history, the highest 401ks in history. Everything was going well.'"
The Iran war is currently sending prices sky high globally, rippling through global supply chains for common consumer goods, making materials like chemicals and plastics more expensive and pushing up manufacturing and transportation costs.
In early May, after a Labor Department report showed that the war had pushed inflation to its highest level since 2023, Trump weighed in on whether or not Americans' financial situations factor into his decisions.
He continued: "Not even a little bit," he told a reporter on May 12, adding that "the only thing that matters" to him regarding Iran was preventing the country from possessing a nuclear weapon.
"I don't think about Americans' financial situation," he said. "I don't think about anybody."
“We have to do something with Iran. We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon,” the president said, speaking in front of a construction site for his White House ballroom project. “You want to see the world exploded? You want to see a problem? This is peanuts.”
“I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while,” he added. “It won't be much longer.”
The White House has been approached for comment.