Amid growing concerns over a sharp economic decline following the announcement of US tariffs, Donald Trump took to his platform Truth Social to distance himself from the downturn, blaming former US President Joe Biden for the state of the economy.
In a social media post on Truth Social, Trump asserted that the recent economic troubles had “NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS” and instead pointed fingers at Biden’s legacy.
He wrote, “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. 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!!!”
Trump also reminded followers that he assumed office in January this year, after defeating Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Despite the economic slowdown, Trump maintained that a revival is on the horizon. He said the new tariffs would soon take effect, drawing manufacturing and investment back into the country. “Our Country will boom,” he said, stressing once again that Biden “left us with bad numbers.”
US economy goes into reverse
The US economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of the year—its worst performance since 2022 after Trump’s sweeping tariff policies shook confidence among consumers and businesses, reports CNN. The commerce department’s report showed a sharp drop from the previous quarter’s 2.4% growth, far below economists’ expectations.
The decline was mainly caused by a massive surge in imports, as buyers rushed to get ahead of new tariffs, and a fall in government spending. When imports far outweigh exports, it drags down overall economic output—this gap hurt GDP more than at any point since 1947.
Despite the poor numbers, Trump insisted the downturn was due to the “Biden overhang,” blaming the previous administration for leaving behind “bad numbers.” He claimed tariffs were not the reason and promised a strong economic rebound in the near future. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro called the data “the best negative print” ever, arguing that strong domestic investment hinted at growth to come—even though the increase was largely due to businesses stockpiling before tariffs kicked in.
