'Biden's fault' for first dip in US economy in three years.

Trump claims the downturn has nothing to do with his tariffs

- GUSTAF KILANDER

President Donald Trump yesterday lashed out at his predecessor, Joe Biden, as the US economy shrank by 0.3 per cent during the first quarter of this year, marking the first drop in three years as tariff policies disrupted businesses and their supply chains.

The tariffs imposed on other countries has created uncertainty among businesses and consumers. The economy, as a measure of GDP, shrank in part because of a rise in imports as companies stockpiled goods to avoid Mr Trump’s tariffs.

This marks the worst quarter for the US economy since 2022, when the country was still heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Comparatively, the economy grew by 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter during the final months of Biden’s term in office.

Despite this, Mr Trump quickly took to Truth Social yesterday morning to blame his predecessor for the dismal numbers.

“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” he wrote. “I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ 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. BE PATIENT!!!”