U.S. Inflation Hits 3-Year High; Trump Says, "I Love High Prices"

[Anchor]

Last month, the U.S. consumer inflation rate climbed to the 4 percent range, marking its highest level in three years. Upon receiving these results, President Trump remarked that he loves high prices, while all three major New York stock indices fell overnight.

New York correspondent Kim Beom-ju reports.

[Reporter]

The U.S. consumer price index for May was recorded at 4.2 percent higher than a year ago.

This is the highest inflation rate in three years since April 2023.

The U.S. consumer inflation rate stood at 2.4 percent in February, before the Iran conflict, but rose to 3.3 percent in March, 3.8 percent in April, and saw an even sharper increase this month.

Prices for energy and food, which have a significant impact on ordinary households, rose particularly noticeably.

With gasoline prices jumping 40 percent compared to a year ago, energy costs accounted for 60 percent of the overall inflation rate.

Food prices also weighed heavily on household budgets, with beef rising 15 percent, coffee 24 percent, and fruits and vegetables 6 percent.

[David Anderson / Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University: Every piece of food that we eat has to be transported from the farm to the consumer, and that involves diesel, gasoline, rail, and trucking.]

Regarding these statistics, President Trump stated that he loves high prices, adding the following:

[Donald Trump / U.S. President: I love high prices. You know why? You don't know the fact that we've taken out millions of barrels of crude oil? Nobody knows. Even Iran doesn't know right now.]

Later, he claimed on social media that he had led a secret operation to have oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, supplying 100 million barrels of crude oil. International oil prices rose by over 2 percent today (June 11).

In the New York stock market, all three major indices fell, with the Nasdaq dropping 2 percent and the Dow falling 1.9 percent. Semiconductor-related stocks also saw a series of declines, including Micron, which has close ties to the Korean stock market, falling 4.7 percent.

(Video reporting: Lee Hee-hoon, Video editing: Chae Chul-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.