Ten weeks into the Iran war, new government data shows that inflation is now rising at the fastest rate since 2023.<\/p>\n
But when President Trump was asked Tuesday if America’s financial situation was motivating him\u00a0to secure a peace deal, he dismissed the idea.<\/p>\n
“Not even a little bit,” Trump said. “I don\u2019t think about Americans\u2019 financial situation. I don\u2019t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That\u2019s all. That\u2019s the only thing that motivates me.”<\/p>\n
Before the war, the president spent months trying to ease voter concerns about the cost of living ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections, claiming in his Feb. 25\u00a0State of the Union address\u00a0that \u201cour policies are rapidly ending\u201d the \u201chigh prices\u201d Democrats \u201ccreated.”<\/p>\n
Around the same time, Trump also declared that he had\u00a0\u201cwon affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n
But critics have long countered \u2014 as Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger did in her Democratic response to the State of the Union \u2014 that \u201cTrump\u2019s reckless trade policies have forced American families to\u00a0pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs.\u201d The public has largely agreed,\u00a0giving Trump low economic marks in polls\u00a0and electing Democrats in off-year contests\u00a0in New Jersey, Virginia,\u00a0Florida\u00a0and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Now, the ripple effects of the Iran war \u2014 especially on oil and gas prices \u2014 seem to be taking a toll as well, with the annual inflation rate rising to 3.8% in April, up from 3.3% in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for anything where I can say \u2018here\u2019s some relief,\u2019 and that\u2019s not very easy to do in this report,\u201d Michael Reid, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets,\u00a0told the New York Times\u00a0on Tuesday. \u201cGenerally, inflation is moving in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how high is the cost of living, really?<\/p>\n
To separate reality from spin \u2014 something that both sides engage in \u2014 Yahoo is keeping track of the key numbers that show where things actually stand, and how they’ve changed since Trump returned to the White House.<\/p>\n
Inflation is the rate at which the price of goods and services increases over time. The annual inflation rate peaked at 9.1% during the pandemic, then fell to as low as 2.4% in the final months of former President Joe Biden\u2019s term. During Trump’s first year back in office, inflation generally remained under 3%. But it has spiked dramatically since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, driven largely by soaring energy prices.<\/p>\n