Trump says US must ‘get rid of the Biden Overhang’ after economy shrank in Q1

WASHINGTON — President Trump brushed off a poor economic report Monday — denying that his tariffs are contributing to business uncertainty and declaring that stocks will gain ground when more duties take effect.

“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” the president wrote on Truth Social after the Department of Commerce announced that GDP had plunged 0.3% in the first three months of 2025.

“I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’”

Trump added: “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!!!”

The below-expectations GDP report sparked a fresh sell-off on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 400 points in the first 90 minutes of trading.

The stock market soared in Trump’s first term before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and continued to grow during President Joe Biden’s four years in office.

It has dipped since Trump took office Jan. 20, though he’s argued that the long-term effect of his trade policies will be positive.

Trump’s trade team is working to negotiate new trade deals to avert massive “reciprocal” tariffs on major trading partners, which were announced April 2 and delayed until early July.

A new 10% baseline tariff on most imports has remained in effect since early April — roughly triple the prior average US rate — while tariffs on Chinese goods top 145% in a tit-for-tat standoff.

Trump also has imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, a 25% tariff on foreign-made cars and a 25% tariff on non-USMCA-compliant goods from Canada and Mexico.

Meanwhile, the economic team is working to strike deals to avert the massive reciprocal tariffs — which could also address the new 10% baseline, which currently has carve-outs for copper, computer chips, pharmaceuticals and lumber, though he has announced plans to target each of those categories.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that a deal was “done, done, done” with an unidentified country, pending approval of its government.