The stock market, the U.S.’s gross domestic product and other metrics are pointing toward an economic downturn. President Donald Trump said blame should go to his predecessor, Joe Biden, not his own trade policies.
“This is Biden’s economy, because we took over on Jan. 20, and I think you have to get us a little bit of time to get moving,” Trump said during remarks at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
Trump spent time at each of his three public events on Wednesday downplaying what the data spells about the effect his economic policies are having on the U.S. and global economies. While his administration has taken credit for positive indicators — such as news this month that the consumer price index showed that inflation was cooling — Trump has continued to dismiss criticism of his own economic policies.
Earlier in the day, the Commerce Department announced that GDP had contracted for the first time since 2022, falling 0.3% in the first three months of 2025. The White House said that the negative top-line figure was an indication that Biden’s “economic disaster” was coming to an end, pointing instead to “core GDP,” a different metric, as a sign of “economic momentum.”
Trending
Economists say Trump’s trade policies are rattling the economy, an assessment Trump refutes.
“This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he [Joe Biden] left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “BE PATIENT!!!”
The U.S. is in the process of negotiating trade deals with 18 countries after the Trump administration levied steep “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries. China, a top trading partner, and the U.S. appear to be at a standstill on negotiations.
In the meantime, the tariff war —145% on China and 125% on the U.S. — is threatening to hike prices and leave shelves empty in the coming weeks, business leaders say.
White House officials have repeatedly dodged questions about whether Trump has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In response to one such question, Trump conceded after a Wednesday morning cabinet meeting that Americans might be negatively impacted by the trade war, but assured the U.S. would win in the end.
“Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way,” Trump told reporters. “We have to make a fair deal.”
The stock market has also underperformed in Trump’s first 100 days. Not since 1974 have the markets had a worse start to a presidential term. This, Trump says, is also Biden’s fault.
“This is Biden’s stock market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Tariffs will also start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers.”
Trump frequently champions domestic business investments when pressed on economic policy achievements. He featured business executives at his Wednesday afternoon event and announced that companies like Eli Lilly and IBM were making investments in the U.S., which would create jobs and boost the economy.
“We’re over $8 trillion of new investment,” Trump said later during a town hall on NewsNation. “That’s unheard of. They’re trying to avoid the tariffs.”
Trump was then pressed on the political risks if the economy continues to whither past the point where he can blame it on the last president. If the economy hasn’t stabilized by this time next year, Democrats could win the midterms, said former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, one of the three moderators of the NewsNation town hall.
“That’s true. I just think that I’ll be able to convince people how good this is,” Trump said.
—
Violet Jira is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
Author
