Ah yes the great recession of 2020, record high markets, record low unemployment..

Inflation was low because of China. Production cost could easily triple in other parts of the world at the same quality and quantity even if we can move them instantaneously.

Globalization kept inflation at bay. Instead of upping prices due to increased production costs, enterprises in advanced economies moved production to China & co.

This is not necessarily a bad thing of course, as China catches up and the ‘free’ markets work efficiently. Meanwhile the middle-class in the developped countries gets hurt, thus their economies see little inflation.

Another argument for this would be that everything not outsource-able saw rather higher inflation than the CPI numbers. (Housing, education etc.)

Inflation in China though hovers around 5% - https://tradingeconomics.com/china/inflation-cpi