President Donald Trump said on June 10 that when he said, “I love inflation,” he meant that he was glad it wasn’t rising.
“The numbers were great” and “I like the inflation,” President Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about the May Consumer Price Index report. According to the CPI report, prices rose by more than 4% annually for the first time since 2023.
Shortly after speaking in the Oval Office, he clarified his comments to the New York Post by phone, saying that Democratic criticism of the comments was “taken out of context.”
“I love the inflation numbers because that’s what I’m talking about,” Trump told the Post. “The numbers are going to be staggering, because despite the fact that we’re at war, the numbers are showing to be much lower than expected. And when we come out of the war, the numbers will be lower than they were before we started.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson also said the comment was taken “completely out of context,” according to NBC News.
Did President Trump say “I love inflation”? clock.
President Donald Trump tells reporters he loves inflation
Asked if he was concerned about the latest inflation numbers, President Donald Trump told reporters he loves inflation.
President Trump made the remarks at a bill signing in the Oval Office on June 10, and are now widely shared among Democrats who want to make high prices a focus in the midterm elections. President Trump was asked if he was concerned about the Labor Department’s latest CPI, released earlier in the day.
“No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love inflation. You know why?” Trump responded. “Because as soon as this war is over, you can say now what you didn’t know.”
Trump later said that Iran had brought millions of barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz without its knowledge. He later explained on Truth Social that he had carried out a “secret mission” to transport more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait.
May report showed inflation rate was highest since 2023
Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which acts as a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil, have sent oil and gas prices soaring since the Iran war began.
According to the May CPI report released by the Ministry of Labor on June 10, prices rose 0.5% from April to May, up 4.2% from the same month last year. This was the largest increase in the last three years.
President Trump has repeatedly said price hikes are worth the effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He also said that although peace talks have stalled, the war is nearing an end, and that Trump will return to attacks because Iran is “taking too long” to reach a deal. “When the war ends, inflation will go down,” Trump said of inflation. “It will fall like a rock.”
According to a June 8 Reuters/Ipsos poll, President Trump’s approval rating is 35%, with most voters citing rising food and gasoline prices as a reason for their disapproval.
Contributors: Joey Garrison, Rachel Barber, Terry Collins, USA TODAY
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact KCrowley@usatodayco.com. follow her X (Twitter), thread, blue sky and TikTok.
