Producer Inflation Stopped Cold In Trump’s First Month, Core Prices Fell

Promises made, promises kept. “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” Donald Trump said on the campaign trail last summer. Critics claimed, without evidence, that Trump’s tariff plans would raise inflation. Many economists argued that while the rate of price increases might slow, prices would not decline and Americans would simply have to adjust to the new higher price level. In February, however, the core producer price index for final demand declined by 0.1 percent. In other words, prices of goods and services— excluding food and energy—sold by U.S. businesses came down. The broader...