Why CEOs think Trump's policies aren't working

According to Donald Trump, in economic terms you never had it so good.

- MICHAEL HILTZIK COLUMNIST

“The economy is back on track,” the White House proclaimed this month, asserting that, among other metrics, “retail sales are booming” and inflation is falling.

These claims, however, seem to be more aspirational than real — at least that’s what the raw figures are showing. Except for the wealthy, increases in consumer spending are hitting a wall, “decelerating from the robust pace seen in late 2024,” in the words of Fitch Ratings.

Consumer spending growth fell to 0.5% in the first quarter of this year and to 1.4% in the second quarter, a serious slowdown from the 3.7% and 4.0% growth rates in the third and fourth quarter of last year, before Trump took office, Fitch calculated.

As for job growth, it has been so dismal this year that Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica McEntarfer in August, as though she was the reason that the economy is crumbling under the weight of his economic policies.

Meanwhile, inflation is creeping up, almost entirely because of tariff-related price increases. Although the White House has asserted that inflation is coming down, in fact it is going up. The consumer price index has risen every month since Trump took office except in March. The CPI increased by 2.9% in the year ended Aug. 31, compared with an increase of 2.5% in the year ended August 2024, according to the BLS.

In response to my request for comment on these figures, a White House spokesman disputed assertions that Trump’s economic policies have been ineffective. “The Administration is working closely with business leaders to restore America as the most dynamic economy in the world” via “an aggressive pro-growth agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance,” said the spokesman, Kush S. Desai.

These signals of a weakening economy may still be only faintly perceived by most Americans — and felt most sharply by lower-income households — but they’re no secret to business leaders.