President Trump was quick to respond Wednesday to the news that the US economy contracted for the first time in three years, which sent stock indexes lower.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market … we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang,'” he said in a social media post.
He added a series of all-caps messages saying that the contraction has “NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS” and also “BE PATIENT!!!”
The timing of the lower-than-expected GDP number and further sell-off couldn’t be worse for Trump.
The president is set to finish his first 100 days in office today with another series of dour economic indicators creating new pressure on his trade plans, especially after tariffs drove a historically bleak start to his presidency in the stock market.
President Trump delivers a 100th day in office speech in Michigan on April 29. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images) ·JEFF KOWALSKY via Getty Images
The Wednesday morning post was part of a scramble from Trump and his team to explain the news. White House Trade Counselor Peter Navarro said on CNBC, “That’s the best negative print I have ever seen in my life,” pointing to things like a surge in imports and domestic investment.
Markets need to “look beneath the surface,” he added.
It all came in response to a Bureau of Economic Analysis advance estimate of the first quarter US real domestic product (GDP) finding that real GDP decreased by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025. It was both below expectations and the first negative GDP reading since 2022.
Later in the day at a Cabinet meeting, Trump also pointed to the core GDP — a measure of economic growth what excludes things like government spending and net exports — which indeed paints a better picture.
“Removing distortions from imports, inventories, and government spending was up close to 3%,” Trump noted adding “we had numbers that despite what we were handed, we turned them around.”
The readings span the last 20 days of Joe Biden’s presidency and approximately 70 of Trump’s first days in office.
Trump is clearly aiming to focus on those first 20 days with former Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates responding to Trump’s claims saying “When Joe Biden handed Donald Trump the best-performing economy in the world, experts praised the U.S. for leaving every other wealthy nation ‘in the dust.’ Now we’re plummeting toward a Trumpcession.”
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump’s tariffs
Trump’s Wednesday morning claims also sought to avoid talk of the impact of his historical tariff efforts with claims that few economists would agree with.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market-focused think tank in Washington, D.C., was one of the many to quickly push back.
“That didn’t take long,” senior economist Ryan Young offered in a statement, adding that “the US is halfway to a self-imposed recession, and tariffs are to blame.”
Wednesday’s GDP reading came in significantly lower than the 2.4% rate of growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2024.
It was also the latest in a recent series of anemic numbers, including a below-expectations private sector jobs report, also released on Wednesday, that raises the stakes for Friday’s overall jobs report from the government.
Democrats immediately jumped on the number, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts among the many who tied the lower GDP reading with tariffs.
“Donald Trump’s red-light, green-light tariffs are shrinking our economy,” she offered in a statement, adding that “Americans are deeply pessimistic about surviving a cratering economy deliberately damaged by the President.”
Democrats also have a rare chance for action today with Warren alongside other Democratic senators set to force a Senate vote to push back on whether Trump has the legal authority to implement his tariffs.
A series of senators will speak on the Senate floor today before they force a vote on legislation that says the economic emergency declaration Trump has used to implement his tariffs isn’t legitimate and should be “terminated.”
The vote may end up being largely symbolic for now, but at least one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, is co-sponsoring the effort, which will increase pressure on the president.
A projection displaying rising consumer costs and President Trump’s approval ratings created by Democrats is seen in front of the White House on April 29. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Democratic National Committee) ·Jemal Countess via Getty Images
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer added in his own statement that Trump now must fire his economic team and that “today’s GDP number shows Donald Trump is running America the same way he ran his business — straight into the ground.”
Wednesday’s back-and-forth is part of a years-long pattern for Trump of shifting stock market responsibility when it suits his needs. He often tried to take credit himself during Biden’s term when the market was up, but then blamed Biden when it was down.
In a February 2021 speech — as just one example after having been out of office for more than a month and watching Biden oversee stock prices increase — Trump was still talking about “our stock market.”
This post has been updated.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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