CNBC’s Rick Santelli pours cold water on narrative that trump tariffs would spike inflation

CNBC editor Rick Santelli said Tuesday that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump apparently were not causing inflation to skyrocket following the release of data on consumer prices.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.7% year-over-year in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, roughly in line with expectations. Santelli said when food and energy were removed, inflation was actually slightly below expectations.

“Inflation is going to ebb and flow. If we want to really isolate it in terms of what this administration is doing or Liberation Day, I would benchmark it to the beginning of the year, January and February reads,” Santelli said. “Being warmer gives you a lot of information that some of the policies have not been detrimental in boosting inflation. Now they’re up just a bit, but some of that could also be associated with better economic data. You know, the death of the labor market has been greatly exaggerated based on recent data and I think that all in all, the inflation numbers, they’re pretty respectable here.”

WATCH:

Trump announced reciprocal tariffs to address import duties and “horrendous imbalances” in trade with other countries during an April 2 Rose Garden event, then announcing a 90-day pause via an April 9 post on Truth Social. The Trump administration finalized a trade deal with China on June 26, which included a 55% tariff on Chinese products while reducing Chinese tariffs on American products to 10%.

Several corporate outlets predicted that the Trump tariffs would cause inflation to climb, with ABC predicting they “would ratchet up the global trade war” on March 26 while the Guardian said on April 22 Trump’s action “means rising prices.”

In February, NewsNation host Chris Cuomo claimed that tariffs boosting the economy “never happens,” adding that the tariffs would increase inflation. A CNBC column in May also predicted tariffs could cause prices to spike despite good numbers for April.

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