U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick talks reciprocal tariffs, trade deficits, American manufacturing, auto production and the macroeconomy in a wide-ranging interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was apparently shocked on Friday, after learning that a recent estimate from the Federal Reserve shows the U.S. economy shrinking in Q1.
“Wait, wait, wait, say that again. What? A what?” Lutnick interrupted FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo after she read the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimate that gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract in the first quarter.
“A contraction?” he continued. “Okay… right here, right now, that is ridiculous.”
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Lutnick noted he has “absolutely not” spoken to Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic about the matter.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was shocked that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta expects a contraction of Q1 GDP. (FOXBusiness)
The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model estimates a contraction of 2.4% for the first quarter, a slight improvement from its initial estimate of -2.8% on March 3. However, its website notes that the tracker is not an “official forecast” but a “running estimate of real GDP growth based on available economic data for the current measured quarter.”
“We own the economy in the fourth quarter,” Lutnick clarified. “We cut regulation, we get shovels in the ground of this $2 trillion of a commitment to build factories, to build production back to America. You’ve got everybody coming back to America to build. That starts really strong in the third quarter.”
“First and second quarter are sort of a little bit [of] our optimism – egg prices down, interest rates down, energy prices down,” the secretary expanded. “But it is the mess that we were left with.”
Former FDIC Vice Chairman and Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City CEO Thomas Hoenig talks America’s growth forecast, DOGE spending cuts and future Fed leadership.
He further pressed Bartiromo: “You feel it, Maria. Do you feel a deep, deep pain in the first quarter? I’ve watched your show all along. I don’t remember you saying, ‘Oh my God!’ No, come on.”
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ advanced estimate for first quarter GDP is planned for April 30.
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