The US did have deflation in the fourth quarter of 2008: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/ec

The US did have deflation in the fourth quarter of 2008: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/economics/deflation Of course this is talking about the overall price level. The prices in specific sectors can fluctuate independently of that. Food and energy in particular are excluded from core inflation because they're especially volatile.