Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailInflation rose 0.4 percent in the month of August and 2.9 percent in the past 12 months, a sign that President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have begun to affect the larger global economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index data for August on Thursday, the first month that most of Trump’s tariffs took effect after an initial pause. The numbers are the latest sign that the U.S. economy is facing major headwinds. Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added only 22,000 jobs. This came despite the fact that Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the non-partisan commissioner of the bureau, after a weak jobs number in July. The problems with the U.S. economy might also be more deep-seated than the shock from Trump’s across-the-board tariffs. Earlier this week, the bureau released revised down the number of jobs added in the last year by 911,000. Food and shelter prices drove the spike in consumer prices. The index for food rose by 0.5 percent in August and 3.2 percent in the past twelve months. Some of the biggest increases in food came from beef and veal, which rose 2.7 percent. Fruits also contributed to the increase, with apples rising 3.5 percent and bananas by 2.1 percent. The price of coffee also spiked, with the index jumping by 3.6 percent. This comes as Trump enacted a 50 percent tariff against Brazil in retailation against the trial of the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro. Trump also set tariffs on Colombia, another major source of coffee for American consumers, at 10 percent. -This story is developing
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Inflation spiked in August as Trump’s tariffs went into full effect
