President Donald Trump is taking credit for a better-than-expected jobs report. But he insisted the warts in the American economy are the fault of former President Joe Biden, who’s been out of the White House for months.
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” Trump told host Kristen Welker in an interview that was to air Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “He did a terrible job on everything, from his autopen — which I’m sure he knew nothing about, some of the things he was supposedly signing.”
Trump did not elaborate on how he differentiated the Trump economy from the Biden economy.
The Economic Policies of Trump and Biden
Throughout his first 100 days back in office, Trump has worked to upend the global economic and trading structure, unleashing sweeping tariffs to punish countries — including allies — for their trade relationships with the U.S. and endeavoring to bring long-departed manufacturing facilities back home.
And though the president eventually paused many of his more punitive tariffs for 90 days, the White House has just three months to negotiate dozens of trade deals with partners all over the world. Consumer expectations have cratered. And the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of 2025, a major reversal from the 2.4 percent growth notched in the last quarter of 2024.
“Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers,” he wrote on Truth Social last week. “Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ 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!!!”
Public Perception and Economic Performance
U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April, though most federal job cuts have yet to show up in employment statistics. Average hourly earnings climbed, too.
But despite the president’s insistence that his policies will work in the long run, Americans aren’t exactly giving him high marks. He boasts just a 39 percent approval rating for handling the economy, according to a CNN poll released early last week.
“Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything,” Trump told Welker.
“But I’ve only just been here for a little more than three months. But the stock market, look at what’s happened in the last short period of time. Didn’t it have nine or 10 days in a row, or 11 days, where it’s gone up? And the tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well. Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.”
