CNN's John Berman: Wholesale inflation “soared to the highest level in four years” as Trump said he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation”
CNN’s David Goldman: Inflation “ate your pay raise for the past year”
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From the May 13, 2026, edition of CNN's CNN News Central
JOHN BERMAN (CO-ANCHOR): Breaking this morning, we've got new inflation data out just moments ago. And it showed wholesale inflation soared to the highest level in four years, much more than expected, likely signaling more pain ahead for consumers. And it comes as President Trump just arrived in China after he raised a lot of eyebrows when asked how he weighs Americans' financial struggles when making decisions about Iran.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
REPORTER: When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are Americans' financial situation motivating you to make a deal?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing – we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That’s the only thing.
(VIDEO ENDS)
BERMAN: “I don't think about Americans' financial situation." With us now is CNN's David Goldman. When we talk about the financial situation, at least in terms of inflation, we've got this new data point. Tell me what we're looking at here.
DAVID GOLDMAN (CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER): Yeah, I can't think of a worse time politically for Trump to say that, because look what we just got; 1.4% in one month. That's the amount that businesses are paying more in April than they were in March. This is the big number, 6%. We haven’t seen something like this annually since 2022. We don’t want to compare anything to 2022.
…
BERMAN: I mean, and this date here is Election Day 2024. Inflation clearly a key factor in getting Donald Trump elected. Look how much lower inflation was then than it is now. And this was Inauguration Day. So, inflation is actually getting worse from when the president took office.
GOLDMAN: So, here’s the thing. This is mostly gas prices. And the president said right after he said, “I'm not thinking about finances," that as soon as we get out of the war, this number is going to go right down. And what have we been talking about? Rockets and feathers. That's not how this works. These numbers don't just start to come down.
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GOLDMAN: But the big number is that we know that JP Morgan is predicting that $97 oil is going to be with us for the rest of the year, and Trump's own administration says that $3.88 gas is going to be the norm for the rest of the year.
BERMAN: And any of these buttons is like a box of chocolates, we don't know what we're going to get. But let me ask, the expectation, maybe we've got something here. Is the war on Iran; do we have a sense of how it is affecting various prices?
GOLDMAN: Yeah. Well, look, so we have this poll that we had just yesterday. This number is the key thing. Look at this. 77% of Americans said that they think that President Trump's policies are increasing their cost of living. Just 8% said it's decreasing their cost of living. People clearly don't feel good about what's happening. There's a big reason for that. This chart is the thing that I think sums everything up. People felt lousy about the economy coming out of inflation. But look at this blue line. This line tells us how much your pay raise is every single year. This is inflation. Look what just happened.
BERMAN: Yeah, this is what you're making, right? This is inflation. When inflation is higher than what you're making, that's a problem.
GOLDMAN: It ate your pay raise for the past year. That's right.