The Trump inflation shock could be worse than the last inflation crisis, Larry Summers warns

Larry Summers has some unsolicited advice for President-elect Donald Trump: Don’t keep your campaign promises — unless you want to send prices skyrocketing once again.

Larry Summers has some unsolicited advice for President-elect Donald Trump: Don’t keep your campaign promises — unless you want to send prices skyrocketing once again. Summers, the famed economist and former Clinton-era Treasury secretary, is alarmed by the potential impact of Trump’s proposals to slash taxes, spike tariffs, deport undocumented workers and influence the Federal Reserve. “If he carries through on what he said during his campaign, there will be an inflation shock significantly greater than the one the country suffered in 2021,” Summers told Kate Bolduan on CNN News Central on Wednesday. That’s quite the warning considering the scale of the last inflation episode. Consumer prices started increasing rapidly in the spring of 2021, with inflation eventually peaking at a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022. Many Americans had never experienced anything like it, and the shockwaves are still being felt today in the nation’s economy and political system. Although the rate of inflation has eased substantially, the level of prices has not. And deep frustrations with the high cost of living helped return Trump to the White House.