The 4.1 percent quarterly growth rate announced by President Donald Trump is "good news" for the nation, and the pace will likely continue at about 3 percent, Peter Morici, an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland, told Newsmax TV.
"It's good news," Morici told Friday's "America Talks Live." "This was a very strong GDP report . . . I'm looking for us to sustain a three percent growth.
"The reality is that without these tax cuts, the economy would be growing at about 2 percent a year the way it did during the Obama recovery . . . We wouldn't be seeing a future that would give us 2.5 to 3 percent growth without the reforms that have been implemented recently.
"Barack Obama created 1.8 percent growth during his presidency. Over the first six quarters that are in the books, Donald Trump is averaging about 2.8, 2.9 percent. Where I come from, that ain't bad."
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Trump said the quarterly growth rate — the fastest pace since 2014 — is proof "we've accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportion."
But Morici said work needs to be done on Trump's use of stiff tariffs.
"The real issue here is the reckless application of tariffs in all directions . . . that are not unlikely to generate results," Morici said. "I'm all in favor of going after the Chinese . . . but you have to do it properly."
He criticized Trump's trade team as being "very divided."
"He's not getting good advice . . . and he doesn't have a deep understanding of the issues," Morici told hosts Miranda Khan, John Cardillo, and Gina Loudon.
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