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President Donald Trump called economic growth “incredible” in the first quarter, even as analysts said the report wasn’t as good as it looked at first glance.
President Donald Trump hailed first-quarter economic growth figures on Friday, while he took another swipe at Joe Biden a day after the former vice president’s White House campaign kicked off.
GDP COMMENTS
Commenting on growth of 3.2% in the first quarter, Trump said “we’re doing great. The GDP is an incredible number.”
The gain was well above forecasts, but economists noted that higher inventories and trade represented short-term boosts in the report and said it was “not as good as it looks” overall. U.S. stocks DJIA, +0.07% rose modestly after the data was released and Dow components Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, -2.72% and Intel Corp. INTC, -10.34% reported disappointing earnings.
Now see: GDP ‘stomped’ estimates, but some factors appear unsustainable, economists say.
Opinion: Behind that great GDP number, the real economy is slumping.
BIDEN BASHING
Trump said he could “easily” beat Biden in the general election, should the ex-vice president win the Democratic nomination. Biden entered the race Thursday and leads his fellow Democrats in polls.
Fielding a question about 76-year-old Biden from reporters before departing to address the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, the 72-year-old Trump said he’d never say anyone is too old to be president. Calling himself a “young, vibrant man,” he said of the Democratic field, “they’re all making me look very young, both in terms of age and I think in terms of energy.”
Biden’s campaign video referred to Trump’s controversial comments about the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. On Friday, Trump said his remarks had been perfect. “I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general,” Trump said about the Confederate general.
In his remarks two years ago, the Associated Press notes, Trump did mention the Lee statue but also said “there is blame on both sides” of the clash, which left one anti-white supremacist demonstrator dead.
Read: Trump defends comments on Charlottesville violence.
NORTH KOREA
Following a report that North Korea had billed the U.S. $2 million for American student Otto Warmbier’s medical care, Trump said on Twitter that “no money was paid” to Pyongyang. Warmbier was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017, and died six days after his release.
Trump didn’t deny that North Korea had sent the bill, something that was reported by the Washington Post.
See: North Korea reportedly billed U.S. $2 million for Otto Warmbier’s care.
Trump has met North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un twice in pursuit of a nuclear deal, and said Friday that “we’re doing very well” with that country. The president also said he appreciated a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met with Kim on Thursday. Putin said Kim is willing to give up nuclear weapons, but only if he gets security guarantees.
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