U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says he's expecting a "big second quarter GDP number."
Mnuchin told CNBC the U.S. economy is strong due to President Donald Trump's tax plan and deregulation initiatives.
"We’re excited. This is the six month anniversary of tax cuts. We’re expecting a big second quarter GDP number," he said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. “Let me just say I have no advance notice of what it looks like.”
The latest Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed last week that the U.S. economy is growing at a 4.7 percent annualized rate in the second quarter.
The latest estimate on gross domestic product growth was slower than the 4.8 percent pace estimated on June 14, the Atlanta Fed said. The next GDPNow update is later today.
"I have no idea whether it will be that high [referring to the Atlanta Fed forecast], but a year ago people were laughing when we talked about 3 percent GDP," he said. "We have an economy that is here because of the president's tax plan and the president's regulatory relief and we always said trade is part of this."
He also defended the Trump administration's decision to use legislation to strengthen investment controls, saying certain countries will receive heightened review under changes aimed at protecting U.S. technology.
He told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday that the changes do not target China and he does not expect any significant economic effect from the enhanced review process. "This doesn't create more uncertainty," he said.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
© 2023 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.