This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump used an address at the White House on Friday to tout his six-month-old tax cut package and its effect on the US economy.

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The president also paid tribute to victims of a shooting on Thursday at a Maryland newspaper and issued a rare defense of journalists, whom it is his custom to attack.

“Journalists, like all Americans,” the president said, “should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs.”

But the bulk of his speech was a victory lap to mark the passing of the tax cut bill last December.

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“Six months ago we unleashed an economic miracle by signing the biggest tax cuts … in American history,” Trump said.

It is accurate that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% – the biggest such cut in history – and lowered the tax rate for top earners from 39.6% to 37%. But according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget the overall package is the eighth-largest since 1918.

The speech touted low unemployment, a growth in manufacturing optimism and growth in economic optimism in general. In a statement, the White House claimed more than $300bn was repatriated back to the US in the first quarter of 2018.

Trump made a series of exaggerated claims about the US economy, which has continued on a trajectory of growth that began in Barack Obama’s first term. He also skipped recent signs of less healthy developments.



US gross domestic product grew at 2% in the first quarter, the commerce department said on Thursday, missing an earlier estimate of 2.2% growth.

Meanwhile, an escalating trade war set off by Trump’s aluminum and steel tariffs, which have been reciprocated by the country’s largest partners, including Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China, could stall the economic engine, economists warn.

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According to a forecast by economists at Oxford Economics, the tariffs, which are already squeezing farmers in the midwest, could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Analysts also warned that the tax cut was designed to benefit the wealthiest Americans, including Trump personally. But it has nonetheless proven popular among Republicans and perceptibly lifted Trump’s approval with voters outside his political base.

The legislation also increased the amount that can be passed tax-free to heirs and, in a blow seemingly aimed at blue states with high taxes such as New York and Connecticut, eliminated significant state and local tax deductions.

Republicans have claimed Americans in all lines of work, including low-wage service jobs, have reaped the benefits of the tax cut. The long-term consequences of the cuts, which expire after eight years, are unclear. Economists have warned that the cuts will blow up the national debt – despite Republican austerity talk.