Trump’s Economic Advisers Predict Strong Growth

Economic advisers to President Trump suggested on Sunday that growth this year might surpass an impressive 6%, which is significantly higher than what most mainstream estimates predict.

Kevin Hassett, who leads the White House Economic Council, mentioned that a significant boost in capital expenditures is expected in March, particularly attributed to a surge in corporate investments in artificial intelligence.

When discussing his forecasts for economic growth in 2026 during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Hassett remarked, “I think we could actually see numbers above 4, above 5, and even above 6, given the current strong growth in capital stock.”

“Once we have these new plants operating, we’re likely to see unprecedented growth,” he added.

Even though the U.S. economy has been performing better than many other developed nations recently, the GDP growth rate is still not at the 6% mark.

The last instance where the U.S. approached that figure was in 2021, with an annual growth of 5.7% as a response to the pandemic, although this was followed by inflation challenges.

Before that, the country hadn’t exceeded 6% annual growth since 1984.

For the first quarter of 2026, GDP growth stood at 2%, surpassing other G7 nations.

However, achieving a 6% growth rate would necessitate the economy expanding by approximately 7.5% or more in the remaining quarters of the year.

Hassett emphasized, “Recall that we were initially projecting 2% GDP growth. The reason we landed at 2% rather than 4% or 5% was because of all the factories being built and a record influx of capital goods.”

He credited the surge in capital investment to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which updated many aspects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act initiated by President Trump.

Despite this optimism, many forecasts project U.S. growth for 2026 to be around 2.2% to 2.6%, similar to previous years.

Critics argue that the U.S. economy is constrained partly due to the instability from Trump’s tariffs imposed during his initial year in office.

Recently, the U.S. has also been facing economic challenges linked to rising oil prices, exacerbated by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the world’s offshore oil used to flow.

In this context, inflation for the year ending in March was reported at 3.5%, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, which the Federal Reserve typically favors.

This figure remains well above the Fed’s longstanding target of 2% inflation.

Despite these challenges, employment figures surged in March, reaching their highest level since 2024, as indicated by a recent government report.