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US inflation cooled to a six-month low in March, but tariff pressures are quickly mounting

  • CNN
  • April 10, 2025
CNN

 — 

Inflation slowed sharply in March, new data showed Thursday, and in any other timeline, such news would stoke optimism that Americans' cost of living is no longer surging.

However, the latest reading of the Consumer Price Index, which showed inflation cooling to an annual rate of 2.4% in March, lands as countries, businesses, markets and consumers grapple with America's most severe escalation of its tariff rate in more than a century.

Economists have cautioned that Thursday's CPI report could very well mark the nadir in inflation this year as President Donald Trump's massive and sweeping tariffs upend global order and make imports, and, likely, end-products for consumers, markedly more expensive.

In March, prices fell 0.1% from the month before, a slower pace of growth than the 0.2% gain recorded in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Thursday.

It's the first time that prices have fallen on a monthly basis since May 2020.

Economists were expecting that falling energy prices would drive down the overall CPI rate to 0.1% for the month and 2.6% for the year, according to FactSet.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/10/economy/us-consumer-price-index-inflation-march/index.html