America’s gross domestic product, which measures the natures output of goods and services, dropped slightly in the first quarter as companies rushed imports – which are subtracted from GDP — into the country ahead of U.S. tariff policy.
But after that 0.5 percent drop, the first backwards step in three years, the U.S. economy expanded by a 3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Wednesday.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the report shows consumers and business leaders alike are still worried about potential economic uncertainty around tariff policies being enacted – and changed almost daily – by President Donald Trump.
“Headline numbers are hiding the economy’s true performance, which is slowing as tariffs take a bite out of activity,” Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic wrote, according to the AP.
The economic rebound was expected, though experts had pegged it closer to a 2-percent growth.
