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President Donald Trump touts new government figures showing inflation held steady last month.
“JUST OUT: Good (LOW!) Inflation Numbers for the USA,” the president wrote in a tweet Tuesday morning.
Trump’s comments came an hour after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods such as gas, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.3% month-over-month in December and held steady at 2.7% year-over-year.
Core CPI, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy to give a better assessment of the cost of living, rose 0.2% from November to December and 2.6% from a year ago.
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President Donald Trump speaks about the rate increase at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
The release of the much-anticipated inflation numbers came as the Trump administration aimed to address Americans’ deep concerns about affordability, amid persistent inflation. And the report made headlines just hours before the president heads to Michigan, another key midterm election state, to deliver a speech on his efforts to fight inflation.
“We’ll be talking about how well the economy is doing. As you know, the inflation numbers just came out, and we have very low inflation,” the president said, while speaking at the White House on Tuesday morning.
Deep concerns about inflation propelled Trump and the Republicans to a major victory at the ballot box in 2024, as they won the White House and the Senate and kept their majority in the House.
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But Democrats say their decisive victory in the November 2025 election, and their outperformance in special elections and other ballot box shows last year were fueled by their focus on procurement.
“Donald Trump is already failing to deliver on his promise of an affordable 2026, spending the first 13 days focused on his chaotic foreign policy. Working families are still struggling to make ends meet as prices continue to rise and the job market continues to deteriorate. Trump shows no signs of concern – he’s going back to distractions and excuses that won’t work,” the Democratic Ratest Directory (Wi-Fi) argued in a statement issued after of the release of the CPI report.
And pointing to the midterm elections in November, when Democrats aim to regain the majority of the House and Senate, Witmer emphasized that “voters will have an opportunity to hold Trump and the Republicans accountable for the economy that is failing them.”
November’s slightly lower-than-expected inflation numbers delivered Trump’s message of affordability last month, when they were released.
December’s figures were slightly cooler than economists had expected, but remained above the Federal Reserve’s target rate as policymakers eye another interest rate cut called for by Trump.
“Nobody has been more focused on inflation than President Trump,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said in an interview with Fox News Digital the night before the inflation report was released.
“He was very focused. Think about the Great Bill for a second. No taxes on tips, no taxes on Social Security, no taxes on overtime,” Gruters said. “Look at gas prices. The lowest prices since 2021. Look at egg prices. The real pocketbook problems that affect Americans every day are what the president is focusing on. And he’s not done yet.”
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And Gruters, looking ahead in terms, argued that “from an accessibility perspective, I think we [Republicans] won hands down following the policies pushed by the president.”
Democrats disagree.
Gruters’ rival, DNC Chairman Ken Martin, put it bluntly last month at the party’s national winter meeting.
“It’s too expensive,” Martin insisted.
The cost of living has been a key issue at the ballot box for the past few years. And a large majority of respondents in a national Fox News poll conducted last month expressed concern about high rates.
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“Affordability has been the biggest problem since inflation started after the pandemic. President Biden was unable to contain inflation and the Democrats suffered during the 2024 election. President Trump has had a year in office. He has been able to reduce inflation. There is a lot of work to be done. Things do not change overnight,” said Veteran News Republican Ryans Williams.
But a veteran Democratic strategist, Chris Moyer, pointing to last year’s election, highlighted that “Democrats changed the script from 2024 and focused like a laser on purchases, whether that was health care, groceries, electricity, utility bills,” and said “voters are still very focused on the cost of living.”
Eric Revell of Fox News contributed to this report
