Presidents › Donald Trump (1st term)
Inflation under Donald Trump (1st term)
Inflation (CPI, year over year) · Republican · Jan 20, 2017 – Jan 20, 2021
Under Donald Trump (1st term), inflation averaged 1.9%, against 1.1% in the four years before. That is the 2nd-lowest average of the 8 completed terms since 1977.
Percent change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers versus the same month a year earlier. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED CPIAUCSL. Monthly data, fetched Oct 19, 2026. The chart runs from four years before the term to two years after it.
Inflation under Trump, year by year
Highest reading during the term: 2.9% in Jul 2018. Lowest: 0.2% in May 2020.
| Year | Average |
|---|---|
| 2017 (Feb–Dec) | 2.1% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 1.8% |
| 2020 | 1.3% |
Inflation under every president
Terms sorted by their average, highest first, each next to the average over the four years before it. A term's first year mostly reflects the previous administration's policies, and Congress, the Fed and the world economy move this number too. Why nothing here is a score.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | avg 9.8% | avg 8.1% |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | avg 5.0% | avg 1.9% |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | avg 4.6% | avg 9.8% |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | avg 4.4% | avg 3.3% |
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–present | avg 3.0% so far | avg 5.0% |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | avg 2.8% | avg 2.3% |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | avg 2.6% | avg 4.4% |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | avg 1.9% | avg 1.1% |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | avg 1.4% | avg 3.3% |
Every term lined up from inauguration day on one chart · Inflation by president since 1980
Events during the term that bear on inflation
- Jul 6, 2018 TradeSection 301 tariffs on China begin. First 25% tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports; China retaliates and the trade war escalates through 2019.