EXCLUSIVE: Leftist Media Falsely Blamed Trump Tariff Fears for Q4 GDP Slowdown

NewsBusters ^ | 2/20/2025 | Joseph Vazquez

[JV3MRC]

The media didn’t even wait for the first quarter of President Donald Trump’s second term to blame him for GDP events that transpired before he was even elected to office.

Media outlets like The New York Times, Reuters, The Washington Post tried to blame fears of Trump tariffs for Q4 2024 GDP numbers. From October-December, the economy saw slower-than-expected growth and upticks in consumer spending. The Post held Trump’s tariff threat liable for declining business investment while outlets like Reuters and The Times suggested it was to blame for spikes in household spending, which the outlets characterized as a surge in preemptive purchases to offset the effects of expected tariffs on imports.

This was despite the fact that Q4 data includes a period before anyone even knew Trump was going to win the 2024 election.

MRC Business consulted with experts to conduct an economic analysis on public polling trends and correlate them with the trajectory of Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) to assess whether there was any credence to the media narrative on Trump tariff fears having anything to do with Q4 GDP numbers.

Americans writ large have generally expressed disinterest in taking preliminary actions against the possibility of tariffs. A December 2024 Ipsos poll found that while a majority of Americans believed that tariffs overall raise prices, only 25 percent stated that they’re “stocking up more on items [they] think will cost more if the U.S. enacts tariffs on imports.”

Basically, whether the media try tying tariff fears to declining business investment or desperate households spending to get ahead of the impending doom of Trump tariffs, the short answer to the question of whether the fears are significantly relevant to Q4 GDP was a resounding “No.”

(See link for complete analysis)

[MNJohnnie]

That just idiotic. Companies forward buy out of fear of tariffs and potential port strikes. They don’t slow down their purchasing in response to such threats.

[JV3MRC]

Bingo.

[FrankRizzo890]

I had an ex-brother-in-law that was like this. I don’t remember who the folks in charge were but there was a dem president whose economy was taking into an election that a republican ultimately won. He ranted about how the republican president was tanking the economy within 2 months of him taking office. When I pointed out (with proof from a media source that he trusted) that it was tanking under the previous dem president he said that “The people in charge already knew that the republican was going to win, and they reacted violently to it, and that’s what tanked the economy. ‘They knew what was coming’”

Morons.