Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett defended the strength of the U.S. economy under President Donald Trump, saying that it was thriving despite the Federal Reserve\u2019s tight monetary policy.<\/p>\n
Hassett said that the \u201ceconomy is booming right now because of Trump’s policies,\u201d and not because of the Federal Reserve, while appearing on CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fed has amongst the highest interest rates on Earth right now, and President Trump is frustrated with that,\u201d he said, while noting that this has nothing to do with<\/a> the Department of Justice\u2019s decision to pursue a \u201ccriminal indictment\u201d against Fed Chair Jerome Powell.<\/p>\n Don’t Miss:<\/p>\n Asked whether the Fed deserved any credit for not getting in the way of positive developments, Hassett pushed back, calling instead for \u201ca little bit more introspection\u201d from central bankers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe let inflation get out of control,\u201d he said, referring to the peak 9.1% year-over-year inflation<\/a> in 2022, the highest reading since 1981. \u201cIt’d be nice to know how that happened, and nice to know that we have a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n Hassett pointed to strong growth and factory activity as evidence that the administration’s policies are driving momentum. \u201cWe got GDP now north of 5% in the fourth quarter after 2.4% the previous quarter,\u201d he said, adding that Trump\u2019s policies \u201care really working.\u201d<\/p>\n Trending: Bezos’ Favorite Real Estate Platform Launches A Way To Ride The Ongoing Private Credit Boom<\/a><\/p>\n The latest jobs report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, paints a different picture, with employers adding just 584,000 jobs<\/a> during the whole of 2025, which marks a steep decline from 2 million jobs in 2024, alongside the weakest annual wage growth outside of a recession since the early 2000s.<\/p>\n Moody\u2019s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi blames this on Trump\u2019s trade and tariff policies, saying, \u201cThis reflects the direct effects of the tariffs on manufacturing, transportation and distribution,\u201d on Sunday, in a post on X.<\/p>\n After cogitating a bit on the December jobs data, I’m increasingly convinced that the job market is struggling, and the broader economy is fragile, in big part due to U.S. tariffs. There has been no job growth (and likely job declines after all the revisions are in), as measured\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/x2K17WdUre<\/a><\/p>\n