South Korean media: US GDP contracted in the first quarter, has Trump's tariff become a boomerang?
On May 2nd, the South Korean media "Today Finance" published an article stating that the US Department of Commerce recently announced that the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter (January to March) this year, compared with the previous quarter, fell at an annualized rate of 0.3%.
The US GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.4% in the fourth quarter last year (a quarterly growth of 0.6%). Last year, during the Biden administration, overall growth was 2.8%.
This is the first quarter-on-quarter negative growth for the US GDP in three years since the first quarter of 2022 when it fell by 1.0%. The growth rate of the first quarter was also lower than the expert forecast value of 0.4% estimated by Dow Jones.
In particular, it is pointed out that this negative growth is due to the unilateral tariff measures taken by former President Trump.
On March 4th, former President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, and announced unilaterally on April 2nd, shortly after the end of the first quarter, to impose equivalent tariffs. On March 12th, he levied a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum.
The US Department of Commerce listed the increase in imports as the main cause of the negative growth.
In addition, government spending in the United States also decreased. The positive factors such as investment, consumer spending, and exports did not fully offset these negative factors.
The US GDP grew by 2.8% last year. Quarter by quarter, it grew by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, 3.1% in the third quarter, 3.0% in the second quarter, and 1.6% in the first quarter.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1830996892490892/
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