Trump’s top economic adviser predicts annual GDP growth of 6%, nearly triple most forecasts
President Trump’s top economic adviser said on Sunday that economic growth this year could rise to 6%, nearly three times what most general forecasts expect.
White House Economic Counsel Director Kevin Hassett said the recent surge in spending in March, which appears to have been fueled by an artificial intelligence-related investment bonanza from companies, will turbocharge growth.
“I think we could be looking at numbers north of 4, north of 5, north of even 6 because there’s so much growth in stocks right now,” Hassett told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” when asked about economic growth expectations for 2026.
Once we open those factories, you’re going to see growth unlike anything we’ve seen before.”
Although the US economy has recently experienced much faster growth than most of its peers in the developed world, it has never come close to 6 percent gross domestic product growth.
The last time the US came close to that figure was 2021, when the pandemic again boosted the economy to 5.7% annual GDP growth, a feat that was then met with inflation.
Before that, the US had not topped 6% annual GDP growth since 1984.
GDP growth for the first quarter of 2026 reached 2%, higher than the Group of Seven nations.
But to reach 6%, the US economy will need to grow just under 7.5% or more over the next three quarters.
Hassett argued, “Remember that 2 percent number you saw in GDP growth, the reason it’s 2 percent and not 4 or 5 percent is that we imported a record number of capital goods because we built all these industries.”
He praised the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which largely revamped provisions of Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, to promote capital investment.
Most reputable forecasts for US growth in 2026 put it between 2.2% and 2.6%, roughly where it was a few years ago.
Critics say the U.S. is being dragged down in part because of business price volatility during Trump’s first year in office.
More recently, the US has been dealing with a recession due to rising oil prices due to Iran wreaking havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows every year.
In contrast, inflation came in at 3.5% for the year ending in March in the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric.
That’s much higher than the Fed’s constant 2% inflation target.
Still, employment rose to its highest level since 2024 in March, according to the latest government survey.
