US economic growth in the second quarter of the year was revised higher, to 3.3%, as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to whipsaw economic data.
The new results strike a sharp contrast to the first quarter, in which the economy shrank by 0.5% as businesses stockpiled imports ahead of Trump’s tariff deadlines.
The sharp shifts in economic data have proved vexing for policymakers: Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have cited this issue in holding interest rates steady, despite evidence of slowing inflation. Economists have also voiced concern that data is at risk of being politicized: the president fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics off the back of poor jobs results this month.
The central bank has, meanwhile, also come under enormous pressure from the White House to cut rates: Trump yesterday moved to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook, in what the Financial Times called “an extraordinary assault on the independence of the Fed.”