'Good evidence': New data shows the 'surest sign' Trump policies are making inflation rise
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner (not pictured) and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
The latest inflation data suggests that President Donald Trump's tariffs may already be having an impact on the finances of working-class families.
In a Tuesday article for Axios, journalists Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin reported on Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from June that was just released this week, and found a "180-degree reversal from recent years" when it comes to the origin of inflation. While housing prices were previously the chief driver of higher inflation while the prices of imported consumer goods remained relatively stable, housing prices are actually tapering off while the prices of imports have gone up.
"The new data offers the surest sign yet that tariff costs are being passed on to consumers in specific categories of goods, particularly furniture and apparel, even as overall inflation is moderate," Brown and Irwin wrote.
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Brown and Irwin also observed that the CPI between June of 2024 and June of 2025 rose by 2.7%, which is slightly higher than the 2.4% year-over-year increase in May. They attributed that increase in prices chiefly to Trump's "trade war" with some of the United States' biggest trading partners, like Canada, China and Mexico.
Among some of the imported goods that experienced the most significant price increases include clothing, which rose by an average of 0.4% in the last 30 days. Window and floor coverings went up by a whopping 4.2% over the last month, which Axios reported was the "largest increase on record" for those items.
The CPI may continue to increase in August depending on what happens with housing prices. Bancreek Capital Advisors chief analytics officer Eric Pachman wrote that CPI could go up by more than 3% in the coming months.
"I would see this as good evidence that tariffs are coming through with increases in prices on items that you would expect," MetLife Investment Management economist Tani Fukui told Axios, who likened tariffs to a "broken bone" and housing prices to a "chronic condition."
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Click here to read Brown and Irwin's full report in Axios.
