President Joe Biden warned that US inflation could last “for a while” after Friday’s data showed that politically sensitive price pressures have accelerated unexpectedly in recent weeks.
“We’ll live with this inflation for a while,” Biden said at a Democratic fundraising event in Beverly Hills. “It’s going to go down slowly, but we’ll live together for a while.”
The cautious remarks at an event hosted by billionaire media mogul Haim Saban came as the administration faces growing pressure ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, where Biden’s congressional control of fellow Democrats is at stake.
The administration and many professional economists initially thought that inflationary pressures would be “transient” and would be reduced as the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic continued.
But price pressures have only expanded to additional goods and services worldwide, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine took the supply of oil and food from an already widespread global market.
U.S. consumer inflation hit a 40-year high of 8.6% in the 12 months to May, with gasoline hitting a record high and food costs rising, according to the Department of Labor.
Rising costs have become a political headache for the Biden administration, which has tried several measures to reduce prices, but said much of the responsibility for controlling inflation lies with the Federal Reserve.
Biden visited the port of Los Angeles on Friday, where he has tried to eradicate a backlog of goods and has accused the U.S. oil industry of taking advantage of supply shortages to fatten profits.