'Not that bad!' Trump official scrambles to put positive spin on brutal GDP projection
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday tried to put Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo at ease after she pointed to the Atlanta Federal Reserve projecting a sharp contraction in the American economy this quarter.
During an appearance on Bartiromo's show, Lutnick was put on the spot about the possibility that the United States economy could shrink thanks to Elon Musk's spending cuts and President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on foreign goods.
"They're out with this contraction prediction!" Bartiromo said, referring to the Atlanta Fed. "And I know that you and President Trump were handed a mess, I'm not arguing that! But now we're talking about recession!"
In fact, Trump inherited an economy from President Joe Biden in which unemployment was in the low four percent range and where inflation had cooled to under three percent before Trump took office.
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Lutnick responded to Bartiromo by doing his best to put a positive spin on the situation.
"It is the mess that we were left with, but it's not that bad!" he insisted. "Remember: Overstating ridiculous things, I mean, you feel it, Maria! Do you feel deep, deep pain in the first quarter? I've watched your show all along, I don't remember you saying, 'Oh my God!' No, come on! America is awesome!"
"I agree with you," Bartiromo conceded. "But that's why I was surprised by the Atlanta Federal Reserve expecting a contraction. And that's, you know, people look at the GDP tracker from the Atlanta Fed."