President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed former President Joe Biden for the U.S. economic system contracting within the first quarter of 2025 — and steered he’ll blame Biden once more for the second quarter’s outcomes.
“That is Biden,” Trump mentioned after the Commerce Division reported gross home product declined within the first three months of this yr.
“And you possibly can even say the following quarter is form of Biden as a result of it does not simply occur on a every day or an hourly foundation,” he mentioned throughout a Cupboard assembly on the White Home.
Trump famous that he didn’t take workplace till late January.
“The inventory market on this case is, it says how dangerous the state of affairs we inherited,” he mentioned. “This can be a quarter that we checked out right now, and I, we took, all of us, collectively, we got here in on January twentieth.”
The president’s remarks got here hours after his first defensive response to the Commerce report displaying GDP fell at a 0.3% annualized tempo in Q1. It was the primary quarter of detrimental development since 2022, when Biden was within the White Home.
“That is Biden’s Inventory Market, not Trump’s. I did not take over till January twentieth,” Trump mentioned in a Reality Social submit.
“Tariffs will quickly begin kicking in, and corporations are beginning to transfer into the USA in report numbers. Our Nation will growth, however we now have to eliminate the Biden ‘Overhang,’ ” he claimed.
“This may take some time, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, solely that he left us with dangerous numbers, however when the growth begins, will probably be like no different. BE PATIENT!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s declare that the detrimental GDP and subsequent market declines had been a results of Biden’s insurance policies is inaccurate.
In keeping with the Commerce report, the GDP determine displays a wave of imports that corporations made to attempt to get forward of Trump’s promised tariffs.
Additionally weighing on GDP was a drop in authorities spending, pushed largely by a reduce in protection.
A separate report from ADP earlier Wednesday confirmed that non-public payrolls rose by simply 62,000 in April, far beneath the Dow Jones consensus estimate for a rise of 120,000.
The weak hiring report was 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. Shares clawed again a few of these losses later within the buying and selling day.
The dangerous financial knowledge may grasp over Trump’s assembly with greater than two dozen enterprise leaders on the White Home later Wednesday.
And his blame-casting on Biden may journey up his current efforts to take credit score for what he asserts are a slew of optimistic financial developments.
In a speech Tuesday night celebrating the a hundredth day of his second presidential time period, Trump boasted that “costs are coming approach down,” claiming, “that is what I’ve finished.”
However the newest GDP report confirmed the private consumption expenditures value index, which is the Federal Reserve’s most well-liked inflation measure, sharply growing 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 shopper confidence to uncertainty and concern surrounding Trump’s tariff insurance policies.
Trump’s present try and 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 through 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.”
Andrew Bates, a former White Home spokesman below Biden, tore into Trump over his newest declare.
“When Joe Biden handed Donald Trump the best-performing economic system on the planet, consultants praised the U.S. for leaving each different rich nation ‘within the mud,'” Bates mentioned in a press release.
“Now we’re plummeting towards a Trumpcession,” he mentioned.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.