President Trump said Friday the Federal Reserve prevented the country’s 2018 gross domestic product from hitting 4 percent, Fox Business reported.
“If we didn’t have somebody raising interest rates and do quantitative tightening, we would have been over 4 [percent] instead of at 3.1 [percent]” in terms of growth, Mr. Trump told Fox Business. “The world is slowing, but we’re not slowing.”
The president still voiced his excitement for the announced GDP on Twitter, saying it is the “BEST NUMBER IN 14 YEARS!”
3.1 GDP FOR THE YEAR, BEST NUMBER IN 14 YEARS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2019
Mr. Trump’s comments come after the Federal Reserve chose to keep rates steady and announced it expected to not raise them in 2019.
The president was critical of the Federal Reserve for raising rates four times last year, calling them “crazy” in October after its fourth hike.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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