Trump slams Biden for 'raging' inflation after hotter-than-expected March price report

• Donald Trump attacked President Joe Biden for persistent inflation after March's consumer price index came in higher than expected.
• Consumer prices rose 0.4% in March, slightly above economists' expectations of 0.3%, marking another data point that could signal inflation trending back up.
• The economy is one of the top issues on voters' minds as Biden and Trump make the case that Americans were financially better off under their respective administrations.

Donald Trump on Wednesday pounced on President Joe Biden after March's consumer price index came in higher than expected, notching another data point that could signal inflation heating back up and tempering hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in the near future.

"INFLATION is BACK—and RAGING!," the former president wrote in a Truth Social post. "The Fed will never be able to credibly lower interest rates, because they want to protect the worst President in the history of the Untied States!"

Consumer prices rose 0.4% in March, slightly above economists' expectations of 0.3%. That monthly rate pushed the year-over-year increase to 3.5%, higher than the 3.4% expectation.

The index has ticked higher than anticipated almost every month since November, possibly marking an unwelcome trend for Biden as the economy becomes the centerpiece of the 2024 election.

"I'm calling on corporations, including grocery retailers, to use record profits to reduce prices," Biden said in a statement following the CPI report.

"Congressional Republicans want to slash taxes for billionaires and big corporations, while helping special interests and Big Pharma raise prices. I won't let them," he added.

Biden has continually blamed big corporations and Republicans for the lingering