US President Donald Trump said today that the slowdown in American economic activity is the result of what was left over from his predecessor Joe Biden and that it "has nothing to do with the tariffs" he has imposed on a large number of countries.
"Our country will take off economically, but first we need to get rid of Joe Biden's legacy. That will take some time, and it has nothing to do with tariffs, it's just that he left us with bad statistics," the US president wrote on his social network Truth Social.
Trump urged his compatriots to "have patience."
US economic growth fell by 0,3 percent in the first quarter of this year, the first decline in the American economy since the pandemic of 2022, according to preliminary estimates from the Department of Commerce in Washington released today.
This marks a sharp decline after growth of 2,4 percent year-on-year in the previous quarter (October to December 2024).
The generator of the GDP decline was, as reported by the media, primarily a strong growth in imports, as companies sought to buy more goods before the tariffs announced by Trump were introduced.
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