CNBC anchor Joe Kernen pushed back on Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during a segment Wednesday after the senator repeated her claims that corporations are “price gouging” in response to the tariff policy rolled out by President Donald Trump on April 2.

Warren, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, said companies were preemptively raising prices out of concern for the impact of the reciprocal tariffs recently announced by the Trump administration.

The tariffs, described by the White House as part of a broader trade reset, went into effect on what the president labeled “Liberation Day.”

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“There are businesses that are already saying quite publicly, yup, they’re worried, so they’re raising prices now. And this is actually one of my most serious concerns about the tariffs,” Warren said.

“Once everyone starts talking about price increases and remember, this started last Friday with Jerome Powell, saying that he’s very concerned that we’re gonna see inflation. That prices are gonna go up across the board for everything that consumers buy. That creates the environment for businesses to be able to say ‘oh, well we’ll just go ahead and increase our prices now, we’ll increase our prices more than the cost of the tariffs,’ and so you get the one two punch of passing along costs from the tariffs, but also price gouging.”

Kernen responded by questioning the accuracy of Warren’s claims, pointing out that the overall inflation rate and prices of certain goods have declined since President Trump returned to office in January.

“Remember our last conversation, this is like part two,” Kernen said.

“Remember our last conversation about price gouging. So now you have another way to say that corporations are doing that. But egg prices came down, inflation came down, it seems like the corporations only gouge when you say they’re gouging and they’re unable to at other times.”

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The exchange follows a series of public disagreements between the two. In August, Warren and Kernen previously clashed during an interview where the senator attempted to defend legislation introduced by former Vice President Kamala Harris aimed at banning what Democrats called grocery store “price gouging.”

Warren has also accused McDonald’s of price gouging after President Trump made a campaign stop at the fast food chain in October.

On February 26, she introduced the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2024, designated as S. 3803, which would create a national ban on price gouging.

During Wednesday’s discussion, Warren referenced comments made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who reportedly cited tariff-related price increases during Trump’s first term.

“So I know you don’t want to listen to me on this, but listen to Jerome Powell on this,” Warren said.

“The example he gave Friday was from the last time that Trump’s tariffs went into effect. And he said there was a tariff on washing machines, no surprise, the price of washing machines went up. But the shocking part is the price of driers went up as well even though there was no imposition of tariffs on those. You tell me what that is except for price gouging.”

Kernen replied, “I’m trying to figure that out. If you have a clothes line, unless you have to dry, though, senator … we had that at my house growing up. Did you? Yeah, I loved the smell.”

“I love the way you’re changing the subject here. That is an example of price gouging, I think it’s time for you to eat that,” Warren said.

A May report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found no significant evidence of corporate price gouging during Joe Biden’s administration.

The report concluded that companies primarily raised prices to adjust to supply and demand pressures in the post-pandemic economy. It also found that increased federal spending contributed more to inflation than corporate behavior.

Since Trump’s return to office, inflation has shown signs of cooling.

Egg prices, which were up 58% at their peak in 2024, fell from $8.16 in early March to $3.25 as of Wednesday.

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released in March, the Consumer Price Index rose 2.8% in February.

The Producer Price Index, which tracks wholesale prices, also dropped significantly that month.

Market analysts, including Morning Star, expect further easing of inflation in March, citing falling energy and gasoline prices.

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