U.S. President Donald Trump speaks throughout a rally to mark his one hundredth day in workplace, at Macomb Group School in Warren, Michigan, U.S., April 29, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed his predecessor and defended his sweeping tariffs after new knowledge confirmed the U.S. economic system contracting final quarter, whereas warning that his promised “growth” will “take some time.”
“That is [former President Joe] Biden‘s Inventory Market, not Trump’s. I did not take over till January twentieth,” Trump mentioned in a Reality Social put up.
“Tariffs will quickly begin kicking in, and corporations are beginning to transfer into the USA in report numbers. Our Nation will growth, however we have now to do away with the Biden ‘Overhang,'” he claimed.
“This may take some time, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, solely that he left us with unhealthy numbers, however when the growth begins, will probably be like no different. BE PATIENT!!!” Trump wrote.
The defensive social media put up got here lower than an hour after the discharge of a U.S. Division of Commerce report exhibiting gross home product fell at a 0.3% annualized tempo within the first three months of the yr.
It was the primary quarter of unfavorable development since Q1 of 2022.
A separate report earlier Wednesday morning confirmed that non-public payrolls rose by simply 62,000 in April, far under the Dow Jones consensus estimate for a rise of 120,000.
The weak hiring report from ADP marked the smallest acquire since July 2024. It additionally confirmed a stark drop in payroll development from the downwardly revised acquire of 147,000 in March.
Markets fell sharply on the open after the GDP report and disappointing company outcomes.
The unhealthy financial knowledge may cling over Trump’s assembly with greater than two dozen enterprise leaders on the White Home later Wednesday. And his blame-casting in response to the studies may journey up his latest efforts to take credit score for what he asserts are a slew of constructive financial developments.
For instance, in a speech Tuesday night celebrating the one hundredth day of his second presidential time period, Trump boasted that “costs are coming means down,” claiming, “that is what I’ve executed.”
In truth, the newest GDP report confirmed the private consumption expenditures value index, the Fed’s most popular inflation measure, sharply rising by 3.6% in Q1, up from the two.4% rise within the prior quarter.
In the meantime, consultants have pegged the shrinking payroll numbers and cratering client confidence to uncertainty and concern surrounding Trump’s tariff insurance policies.
Trump’s present try to shirk accountability for the economic system is a mirror picture of his effort to take credit score for the inventory market when it was on the rise in the course of the Biden administration.
On Jan. 29, 2024, the then-presidential candidate wrote on Reality Social, “THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN.”
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
