Trump blames Biden after GDP shrinks in first quarter, says expansion will ‘take a little time’

President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed his predecessor and defended his sweeping price lists after new information confirmed the U.S. economic system contracting final quarter, whilst caution that his promised “boom” will “take a while.”

“This is [former President Joe] Biden‘s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,” Trump stated in a Truth Social put up.

“Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang,'” he claimed.

“This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!” Trump wrote.

The defensive social media put up got here not up to an hour after the discharge of a U.S. Department of Commerce file appearing gross home product fell at a 0.3% annualized tempo within the first 3 months of the yr.

It was once the primary quarter of destructive expansion since Q1 of 2022.

A separate file previous Wednesday morning confirmed that non-public payrolls rose by means of simply 62,000 in April, a ways beneath the Dow Jones consensus estimate for an build up of 120,000.

The susceptible hiring file from ADP marked the smallest achieve since July 2024. It additionally confirmed a stark drop in payroll expansion from the downwardly revised achieve of 147,000 in March.

Markets fell sharply on the open after the GDP file and disappointing company effects.

The dangerous financial information may dangle over Trump’s assembly with greater than two dozen industry leaders on the White House later Wednesday. And his blame-casting according to the stories may commute up his contemporary efforts to take credit score for what he asserts are a slew of sure financial tendencies.

For instance, in a speech Tuesday night celebrating the 100th day of his 2nd presidential time period, Trump boasted that “prices are coming way down,” claiming, “that’s what I’ve done.”

In truth, the most recent GDP file confirmed the non-public intake expenditures value index, the Fed’s most popular inflation measure, sharply expanding by means of 3.6% in Q1, up from the 2.4% upward thrust within the prior quarter.

Meanwhile, mavens have pegged the shrinking payroll numbers and cratering shopper self belief to uncertainty and concern surrounding Trump’s tariff insurance policies.

Trump’s present try to shirk duty for the economic system is a reflect symbol of his effort to take credit score for the inventory marketplace when it was once on the upward thrust right through the Biden management.

On Jan. 29, 2024, the then-presidential candidate wrote on Truth 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 file.