Donald Trump has happily taken credit for the stock market’s success in the past, but suddenly can’t explain the market’s current second-quarter downturn, weeks after his roller-coaster tariff proposals rattled the economy.
“You frequently took credit for the stock market highs, you said it was a reflection of how well you were doing in the polls,” said The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg at a White House Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “And then after you were elected, you said the stock market highs were a reflection of how well the transition was going and the American people’s confidence in your upcoming administration.”
“Now the stock markets are not doing so well, and you’re saying it’s the Biden stock market. Yet you are the president. Can you explain that?” asked Feinberg.
But Trump couldn’t.
“I’m not taking credit or discredit for the stock market,” Trump said, before again diverting blame toward the Biden administration.
“I’m just saying that we inherited a mess,” he said, referring to immigration as an example.
“You can look at every single one of the people here, and no matter who it is, they are doing better and they are far superior to what took place four years before us,” Trump continued, surrounded by his Cabinet members—several of whom have already found themselves at the center of seismic scandals just a handful of months into the term.
Unfortunately for Trump, former President Joe Biden’s economy was fruitful by a number of metrics. His tenure in the White House saw historic job gains, curated business development, and decreased unemployment. Biden’s stability in office also aided the market’s steady growth, helping it repeatedly defy negative forecasts and grow gross domestic product by 12.6 percent, which the last administration celebrated as a “historically robust expansion.”
Meanwhile, a 100-day report on Trump’s economy found that GDP in the first quarter decreased by 0.3 percent, a startling drop from 2024’s fourth quarter, which saw GDP increase by 2.4 percent.
“Compared to the fourth quarter, the downturn in real GDP in the first quarter reflected an upturn in imports, a deceleration in consumer spending, and a downturn in government spending that were partly offset by upturns in investment and exports,” the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday.
That’s in large part thanks to Trump’s machinations in the White House, including releasing (and stalling) a sweeping and vindictive tariff proposal plan that economists argue will crush U.S. businesses, the majority of which depend on global supply chains. Experts observed (and the White House eventually confirmed) the tariffs were developed using bad math.
Earlier this month, the White House promised to make 90 deals in 90 days to drive down predicted costs and erase the trade war, a pledge that economists argue is no less than a monumental task. An unidentified White House official confirmed to Politico that the administration is scheduled to speak with 18 different nations over the next three weeks to coordinate possible deals.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump from hyperbolizing his metrics to thwart negative press: Last week, Trump claimed that he had already cut deals with 200 nations around the world—five more countries than actually exist.
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