What’s Really Driving The Growth Of The U.S. Economy?

Maintaining a growth rate like 4 .1 percent is a challenge – even without question marks looming over the economy.

By Jill Ament July 27, 2018 1:29 pm

What’s the number every economist is talking about today?

4.1, as in ‘the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 4.1 percent in the second quarter.’  By any yardstick that’s good – the best in years. And as you might imagine, President Trump certainly wasted little time in trumpeting the good news.

But that said, maintaining a growth rate like 4 .1 percent is a challenge even without question marks looming over the economy like tariffs and trade wars.

So what’s actually driving these numbers?

Harriet Torry covers the Federal Reserve and U.S. economy for the Wall Street Journal. She spoke to the Standard this morning.

Here’s what you’ll hear in the audio player above:

How this quarter compares to previous ones

What leading economists are saying

What effect trade wars are having on GDP