Trump is deporting so many immigrants that it could cause inflation to hit 4% next year, top economist says

Donald Trump’s new immigration policies —including deporting , the White House claims , about 750 immigrants a day on average—are helping drive up prices, Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi told Fortune .

He says if Trump continues deporting immigrants at the current rate, inflation will go from 2.5% to somewhere close to 4% “by the time it hits its peak early next year.”

Zandi says his stark prediction is based on recent inflation data. “Foreign-born labor force is declining, and the overall labor force has gone flat since the beginning of the year,” he added. “That’s causing tightening in a lot of markets, adding to costs and inflation.”

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the producer price index (PPI)—a measure of wholesale inflation before it hits consumers—rose 0