The US economy has shrunk, in its worst performance for three years. Donald Trump insists his tariffs are not to blame – despite the evidence – and boasts of attracting $8trn worth of investment to the US. Watch live below as Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House.
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:29, UK
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American military recruitment numbers are up following a period where fewer people were signing up to join the US Army.
Experts say those years of stagnation are a result of the COVID pandemic, low unemployment and stiff competition from the private sector.
Nevertheless, many social media posts have credited Donald Trump and his defence secretary Pete Hegseth for the rise in numbers, a claim the pair have been all too happy to trumpet – including during today’s cabinet meeting, which we have just been covering.
„We have had record people wanting to join our military in the last two and a half months literally since this, I think probably since the election on 5 November. But especially since we came to office and since I announced Pete. He’s young, he’s smart, he’s strong, he loves it, and they love him.“
Donald Trump, 21 March
Fact check: This is an overstatement and is missing context.
Recruitment numbers for all military branches have been on the rise for the last few years, according to US Defence Department data.
Experts cite factors such as improving recruitment strategies, increased bonuses and new prep courses that predated the 2024 election as factors in the change, although they acknowledge Trump’s election could have also played a role.
„There may be some American teenagers or their parents, more likely, who were more comfortable joining the military in a Republican administration than a Democratic administration,“ said Katherine Kuzminski, an expert on military recruitment.
„But I don’t think that alone explains why we’ve seen an increase lately.“
Click below for a full fact check of Trump’s speech last night in Michigan. He made a number of bold claims, as usual…
An aide of former US president Joe Biden has published a scathing reply to Donald Trump’s Truth Social post today.
The president, in response to US growth figures showing the economy shrank between January and March, said it was „Biden’s stock market, not Trump’s“.
In response, former Biden spokesman Andrew Bates says Trump was handed „the best-performing economy in the world“ by Biden, but now the US is“plummeting toward a Trumpcession“.
„Joe Biden publicly warned Trump against raising the prices he promised to lower with tariffs, which are now the biggest middle class tax increase in modern history,“ he says.
„Donald Trump is the only president to have sent a strengthening economy into a nosedive in 100 days, and the only president to have bankrupted a casino.“
He noted that Trump had no issue calling it the „Trump stock market“ in January 2024, claiming markets were up as he was being predicted to win the presidency.
Here’s that claim from January last year on Truth Social…
Donald Trump has started discussing China and is continuing with his optimistic tone after saying at his rally last night that he believes the two countries will make a deal.
„I know China is doing very poorly right now,“ he tells his cabinet.
„I saw some reports coming out and I don’t want that to happen to China, I was actually saddened to hear it,“ he said.
Trump adds that he likes China’s President Xi Jinping „a lot“ and says the two countries are talking.
He also claims factories are closing „all over China because we’re not taking their product“.
„We don’t want their product unless they’re going to be fair with us,“ Trump says.
„That includes intellectual property and other things.“
We’re starting to get pictures from the cabinet room inside the White House.
You can see „Gulf of America“ hats placed around the table in front of every member of Trump’s cabinet…
Donald Trump kicks off the cabinet meeting and is talking about his „massive victory“ at the election.
He says „we won on the basis of a great border and getting criminals out of our country“.
But turning to the economy after today’s figures, Trump says „I have to start off by saying that’s Biden, not Trump“.
„We came in and I was very against everything that Biden was doing in terms of the economy, destroying our country in so many ways.“
He claims his administration has brought in investment worth $8trn, and says „there’s never been a number like that“.
Earlier, Trump made similar claims on Truth Social (see 2.17pm post).
The US had an economy that bucked the global trends under Biden, by growing when others were not – albeit with inflation problems that hurt the Democrats at the election last year.
And as we’ve been reporting, the economic forecasts today all suggest Trump’s tariffs have had a negative impact – including by encouraging a rush of imports.
While we wait for the cabinet meeting to get under way, we’ve just heard from the White House after the US economy shrank 0.3% from January to March.
Donald Trump’s press secretary has said „it’s no surprise the leftovers of Biden’s economic disaster have been a drag on economic growth“ – the US president also put the blame with Biden earlier (see 2.17pm post).
„The underlying numbers tell the real story of the strong momentum president Trump is delivering,“ Karoline Leavitt said.
„Robust core GDP, the highest gross domestic investment in four years, job growth, and trillions of dollars in new investments secured by President Trump are fuelling an economic boom and setting the stage for unprecedented growth as President Trump ushers in the new Golden Age.“
We’re expecting Donald Trump to hold a US cabinet meeting at the White House in the next few moments.
A source has told our US network partner NBC News that Elon Musk will also be in attendance – that comes after Trump’s chief of staff said Musk was no longer working from the White House.
You can watch along in the stream at the top of this live page. We’ll also be providing live text updates.
More on the US economy now – which shrank by 0.3% in the January to March period.
We reported earlier how Donald Trump’s tariff policies were having the opposite effect to what he wanted, so far at least – as they triggered a rush of American imports to beat price increases, worsening the trade deficit he hates.
Trump also campaigned last year to reduce inflation for Americans – with many saying this was a key factor in his victory.
But as with the trade deficit, Trump’s own decisions may be working against him on prices.
Inflation was easing before tariffs hit
Wednesday’s report from the US Commerce Department (see our earlier posts on the US economy shrinking) showed that consumer prices rose just 2.3% in March from a year earlier, down from 2.5% in February.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% compared with a year ago, below February’s 2.8%.
Economists track core prices because they typically provide a better indication of where inflation is heading.
Temporary respite?
The slowdown in price rises could be temporary, though, with economists forecasting that inflation could reverse its recent decline and reach 3% or higher by the end of this year.
More than 40,000 people have signed a petition calling for Donald Trump to be barred from addressing the UK parliament on his state visit.
The US president appeared delighted back in February when Sir Keir Starmer presented him with an invitation from the King to an unprecedented second state visit.
But just one week after the petition was launched, 43,000 people have backed it.
Watch: Starmer hands Trump the invitation from the King back in February
„President Trump has shown a consistent disregard for democratic values,“ Corin Dalby, the campaigner behind the Change.org petition, has said.
„He has made troubling remarks about the UK and its institutions, and is unable to clearly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine – which all UK political parties have strongly opposed.
„The UK parliament should not provide a platform to a figure whose actions and words are so at odds with the principles we hold dear.“
It’s worth noting that Trump didn’t address parliament during his last state visit in 2019, with then-speaker John Bercow saying he would oppose such a move.
The new petition calls on current speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the Lords, Lord McFall, to adopt the same stance.
There are warnings Americans could start seeing shortages in a matter of weeks because of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
„It’s likely to be concentrated in categories where the US is heavily dependent on Chinese manufacturing and there aren’t a lot of alternatives,“ Judah Levine, director of freight platform Freightos, said.
He warned that furniture, baby products and plastic goods, including toys, could be among the items hit the most.
But that impact is already being felt, with the chief executive of toymaker Basic Fun saying he paused shipments following Trump’s tariff plan.
Jay Foreman halted shipments of Tonka Trucks, Care Bears and other toys from China after Trump’s announcement at the start of the month.
„Customers will find Basic Fun toys in stores for a month or two but very quickly we will be out of stock and stock product will disappear from store shelves,“ he said.
The knock-on effect of Trump’s tariff announcement is also being felt in the games industry.
Kevin Brusky, who owns small tabletop game publisher APE Games, said he has around 7,000 copies of three different games sitting in a warehouse in China.
He explained that the tariff bill of about $25,000 would wipe out his profit, and he has resorted to launching a Kickstarter campaign to help pay for the cost of the duties.
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Trump latest: President makes $8trn claim – on day US economy shrank in worst performance for three years – Sky News
