FACT CHECK: Here are the real reasons for post-pandemic inflation under Biden.
-- The inflation rate is a lagging indicator by 8 to 12 months.
-- The rise in the inflation rate in 2020-21 was triggered by Trump's 2018-19 tariffs, which cost U.S. consumers $80 billion through higher prices, according to the Tax Foundation.
-- In March 2020, Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), a massive $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill that led to a significant increase in government spending, and flooded the economy with cheap money. Both fueled inflation.
--The Fed cut interest rates, effectively to zero to prop up the Trump economy, increasing the supply of cheap money even more.
-- In 2020, Trump negotiated a two-year cutback in oil production with Saudi Arabia, Russia and other countries to prop up U.S. oil companies hammered by the pandemic, and bragged about it. That created an artificial shortage in world oil markets, resulting in higher gas prices when demand kicked back in after the pandemic.
-- The oil production cutbacks continued after 2022 and were exacerbated by Russia's Feb. 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions. The average annual price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.60 in 2019 before Trump's deal. In the U.S. in 2022 the average price had risen to $3.95 (unadjusted for inflation).
-- Pent-up demand coming out of the pandemic -- when the U.S. savings rate hit a record -- coupled with temporary supply chain disruptions -- caused the inflation we saw in 2021-2022.
-- Under Biden, the U.S. reduced inflation faster than any other industrialized country following the pandemic.
-- The inflation rate had fallen to 2.9% at the end of Biden's term. It's 4.3% today under Trump.