U.S. economy off to slow start in 2017 under Trump
By POLITICO STAFF
The U.S. economy grew at its slowest rate in three years, the Commerce Department said on Friday, delivering a blow to President Donald Trump’s message of robust growth on the eve of his presidency’s 100-day mark.
The gross domestic product expanded at annual rate of just 0.7 percent, a big dropoff from the 2.1 percent growth in the final quarter of last year. It marked the worst performance since the first quarter of 2014.
Weak consumer spending appeared to be a drag on the economy.
The surprisingly soft numbers run counter to Trump’s campaign rhetoric in which he promised to unleash the country’s economic potential and to dramatically boost job growth.
On the jobs front, Trump has made some headway, with the first job report completely under his presidency beating expectations. The report, released last month, showed the economy adding 235,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.7 percent.
Trump had promised to add 25 million new jobs over the next decade.
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