U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at Coosa Steel Corporation on February 19, 2026 in Rome, Georgia.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Forty minutes before the federal government revealed that economic growth slowed sharply last quarter, President Donald Trump suggested future numbers would be weaker.
“Democrat Shutdown cost US GDP at least 2 points. That’s why they’re doing it again in a smaller way,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social at 7:50 a.m. ET.
At 8:30 a.m., the Commerce Department reported that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025. This is a decrease of 3 percentage points compared to the previous three months.
President Trump’s Friday morning post referenced last year’s record-length government shutdown, which began Oct. 1 at the start of the fourth quarter and lasted 43 days.
The expiration of federal funds was expected to hit GDP. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the government shutdown could reduce real GDP growth by up to 2 percentage points annually in the fourth quarter, depending on the length of the period.
But Dow Jones economists still expected the stock to rise 2.5% over the same period.
President Trump has previously released economic data before it is officially released, raising questions about possible policy violations and concerns that traders have been warned by the president, who could be briefed on the data before it is released.
The Office of Management and Budget not only prohibits executive branch officials from commenting on such announcements early, but also prohibits them from speaking publicly about them until 30 minutes after they are made.
A White House official defended Trump’s posts, telling CNBC on condition of anonymity that the president has consistently pointed out how the government shutdown is hurting the economy, including sharing GDP ratio numbers that are “consistent with this morning’s 2% truth.”
In a post on Truth Social in January, President Trump indirectly revealed future nonfarm payroll data.
The White House acknowledged at the time that there had been an “inadvertent release of aggregated data,” while attacking the media for “grasping at straws to stir up another false controversy.”
During his first term as president, Trump expressed optimism about explosive jobs numbers just before they were announced.
President Trump’s post Friday morning also reiterated his long-standing criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for refusing to cut interest rates as deep or quickly as the president wants.
“And interest rates are low. ‘Twice late’ Mr. Powell is the worst!!!” Trump wrote.
He previously gave Powell the derisive nickname “Too Slow.” It’s unclear whether the president meant to misspell his nickname in Friday’s post.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s social media posts.
