Trump touts economic gains as growth slows

As the U.S. economy slows, President Donald Trump on Tuesday night touted what he called “America’s great economic success” in his third State of the Union address, highlighting job growth and trade development.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, Trump said his government “reversed failed economic policies” of the previous administration and revived the U.S. economy by slashing regulations, enacting tax cuts, and reaching “fair and reciprocal” trade deals.

In remarks mostly focusing on his economic policies, Trump claimed “we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny.”

“We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!” he said.

While the U.S. president said his administration is restoring the nation’s manufacturing might, data from the Institute for Supply Management, a leading global supply management institute, showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted for five consecutive months before inching back into expansion in January. The Purchasing Managers’ Index averaged 51.2 during the 12 months of last year, the lowest in a decade.

Trump also emphasized the importance of new trade deals, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which he signed into law last week, and the U.S.-China phase-one economic and trade agreement, signed in mid-January.

Aaron Blake, senior political reporter for the Washington Post, a U.S. newspaper, pointed out an “overstated” economic case. “As with Trump’s repeated comparisons of his record in three years vs. Obama’s in eight, this is in large part because of the recession that Obama inherited,” Blake wrote. “Job growth under Obama in his final years was about where it’s been under Trump.”

U.S. economic growth slowed to 2.3 percent in 2019, down from 2.9 percent in 2018, primarily reflecting decelerations in business investment and household consumption, and a downturn in exports, according to a recent report from the U.S. Commerce Department.

“Business investment declined for the third consecutive quarter as weak growth abroad and tariffs took a toll on business planning,” wrote Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, a major accounting firm, adding that orders for new equipment shrank in December, which suggested that “weakness will continue.”

Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist, tweeted that the U.S. economy is growing at the cost of a ballooning deficit.

“Trump’s deficitpalooza is giving the economy as much stimulus now as it was getting in 2012, when the unemployment rate was 8 percent,” Krugman said. The federal budget deficit surpassed 1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019, the highest in seven years.