US inflation moderated in January to 2.4%, an easing after Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered price fluctuations last year.

Prices rose 0.2% from December to January, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics for the consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy industries, went up 0.3% over the month.

Economists anticipated prices would ease slightly, pushing the annual inflation rate down to 2.5%. The news comes as polls show voters souring on Trump’s economic record.

Last year, prices fluctuated wildly from spring to fall, going down to 2.3% in April, the lowest in more than four years, then slowly climbing up to 3% by September. By November and December, inflation had fallen to 2.7%.

In a statement, the White House said the new inflation figure was proof that Trump’s “America-first agenda continues taming inflation, with no evidence of tariff-induced spikes. Today’s expectation-beating CPI report proves that President Trump has defeated Joe Biden’s inflation crisis.” 

With inflation now low and stable, the White House argued, ”America’s economy is set to turbocharge even further through long-overdue interest rate cuts from the Fed.” Wall Street is closely watching this inflation report to estimate its potential impact on interest rates. 

The Federal Reserve held off on a rate cut last January, though it is unclear which direction the central bank is leaning before its next board meeting in March. Last month, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, noted that Trump’s tariffs were still passing through the economy, though he expects they will cause a one-time increase in prices before settling into a new normal. 

The Fed is also watching the labour market, which showed signs of strength in January, though overall jobs growth in 2025 was revised down. In 2025, 181,000 jobs were added to the economy, compared with 2 million in 2024, after revisions.

The White House has largely looked past last year’s jobs numbers, with Trump touting growth in gross domestic product and price stability seen last fall. “We’ll go down as the greatest first year in history that nobody’s ever had, just based on the numbers,” Trump said in January.