President Trump on Wednesday said he thinks he should be given time to improve the economy, asking for patience from top executives amid concerns over how his tariffs have rattled the stock market.
“In the first-quarter GDP numbers, just out today, core GDP … was up plus 3 percent, But, this is Biden’s economy, because we took over on Jan. 20, and I think you have to give us a little bit of time to get moving. But this is the Biden economy,” Trump said.
He also argued that “the private sector growth was actually very good” after he won the election.
Data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department found that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) shrank during the first quarter of 2025, falling at an annualized rate of 0.3 percent during the first three months of the year after an annualized increase of 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Business leaders joined the president at the White House for his remarks. He called out Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank; Ted Ogawa, CEO of Toyota Motor North America; Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores; and David Ricks, Eli Lilly CEO, among others, in the crowd.
Trump had said he should get credit for the stock market highs while he was running for president last year, arguing his strong polling against Biden at the time helped the markets.
Trump earlier this month imposed hefty tariffs on all trading partners, setting off steady loses on Wall Street. He announced a 90-day pause on tariffs a week later, amid increasing pressure from top investors and Capitol Hill, and kept a 10 percent tariff in place on all trading partners and a 145 percent overall tariff on China.
Trump earlier Wednesday blamed turbulence on the stock market on Biden too, insisting market tumbles were not the result of his tariff policy.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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’s first 100 days in office were the worst for the stock market at the beginning of a presidential term since former President Nixon’s second term in the 1970s, CNBC reported.
The administration has been working to strike deals on tariffs with trading partners before the 90 days expires, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Tuesday that no deals have been made. He expressed optimism about a deal with India, but didn’t set a timeline for an announcement.
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