‘We don’t have inflation’? Five charts show the US economic reality of Trump’s second term so far

The rate of price increases has dramatically cooled since its peak in 2022, when the pandemic’s economic stimulus packages found their way into consumer prices. Inflation peaked at 9.1%, a 40-year high, in June 2022.

In January 2025, the month when Trump started his second term, inflation was down to 3%. By April 2025, it would be 2.3% – the lowest rate since 2021.

That’s when things start to get bumpy. After Trump placed tariffs on nearly everything that the US imports, inflation started to heat up again, climbing back up to 3% in September 2025. After many of his tariffs were paused and eventually found to be illegal, prices started going down again. In January and February 2026, inflation was back down to 2.4%.