White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran blamed a poor first-quarter GDP report on January being “a very weak month” under former President Joe Biden.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis published its report Wednesday, finding that the GDP decreased by 0.3% from January to April. Imports negatively affected GDP by 5%.
“So, consumer spending was extremely weak in January. And that was a result of lingering problems with the economy left to us by President Biden’s economic policies. Inflation was extraordinarily high in January, in contrast to more recent months. There was bad weather,” Miran said on CNN’s The Situation Room on Wednesday. “There were lingering problems with government subsidies. There were wildfires. January was a very weak month for personal spending, and that spilled into the consumption data for the quarter as a whole.”
An adjustment for inflation was reflected in the BEA’s report.
Miran’s comments echoed those of President Donald Trump, who took to Truth Social to calm the public.
JAMES LANKFORD SUPPORTS AMAZON’S ‘TRANSPARENCY’ IN TARIFF COST DISPLAY
“Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang,’” Trump wrote. “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.”
This report comes as Trump is in the middle of a 90-day pause on tariffs against 86 countries. The strategy has faced criticism and stoked fears of a recession. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, among other Trump officials, has largely dismissed predictions of an impending recession.