'Who's getting fired?' Internet pounces after Trump hit with gloomy economic report

Producers and manufacturers are paying more for the materials they need, and those higher costs could soon be shouldered by American consumers.

The latest Producer Price Index showed the wholesale prices increased 0.9 percent from June, raising the annual rate to 3.3 percent, showing that inflation was creeping back up as costs rise due to President Donald Trump's trade war and mass deportations.

Social media users reacted to the news by wondering whether the president would fire anyone like he did following the release of a gloomy jobs report.

"Who’s getting fired…?" wondered Kai Ryssdal, host of NPR's "Marketplace."

"He can fire all the statisticians and economists he wants, but that won’t change the worsening reality that every American faces each day because of his dumb tariffs," said attorney Heath Mayo.

"Call it the Trump Effect," posted The Lincoln Project, using a screen shot of a tweet from the White House official X account.

"Hope your vacations don’t keep you from seeing this news @JDVance," added Democratic congressional staffer Aaron Fritschner, "maybe you can read about it in The Times or whatever in between fishing outings in the English countryside."

"So much for foreigners paying tariffs," opined economist Joseph Brusuelas. "If they did PPI would be falling. Wholesale prices up 3.3% from a year ago & 3.7% in the core. The temperature is definitely rising in the core. This implies a hot [personal consumption expenditures] reading lies ahead."

"A tariff is a tax, a tax that raises prices," said law professor Richard Painter. "None of this should be surprising. Another tariff warning sign as wholesale inflation surges unexpectedly in July."

"The increase in PPI was driven by services, and there were increases in general services costs *and* in the Trade component (i.e. wholesale/retail margins)," noted Liz Thomas, head of investment strategy at SoFi. "The Fed won't like this report."

"Now listen, while you might be tempted to say this vindicates Jerome Powell and the FED's decision not to cut rates, which is causally tied to accelerating inflation, you have to consider that Trump wants rates cut regardless," posted journalist Adian Bonenberger.

"This would be possibly the funniest reason to fire Jerome Powell," joked Bluesky user Chatham Harrison.

"Trump said he would end inflation on day one," reminded Democratic operative James Singer. "He's made it rise faster than it has in years."

"So… according to the latest Producer Price Index report — US wholesale inflation rose last month at it’s fastest pace in three years," added X user JoJoe from Jerz. "Is he going to fire the person responsible for those numbers now?"