The US GDP contracted in the first quarter, highlighting the damaging impact of Trump's tariff policy

On April 30th, < b > the US economy contracted in Quarter 1, with companies stockpiling imports to avoid rising costs as the main drag, highlighting the damaging impact of Trump's chaotic tariff policy. Preliminary data released by the US Department of Commerce showed that the annualized quarterly rate of real GDP contracted by 0.3% in Quarter 1. Although consumer spending continued to grow modestly, making the report likely to overstate the gloomy economic outlook, the data will still reinforce growing dissatisfaction with Trump's economic policies at a time when he has been in office for 100 days. It was on voters' anxiety about the economy, especially inflation, that Trump won the election last November. Consumer confidence is near a five-year low and business sentiment has deteriorated sharply. Economists warn that tariffs will drive up costs for businesses and households. With unusually large non-monetary gold imports accounting for part of the surge in imports, some economists warn against reading too much into GDP data. < b > But other analysts argue that this does not change the fundamentals of the pressure on the economy from tariff uncertainty.