Trump seeks 4% annual economic growth

US economy expanded at an average annualised rate of 2.1% since last recession ended in June 2009

President-elect Donald Trump’s policies aim to achieve annual economic growth of 4 per cent, the high end of previous goals set by him and his team, according to the White House website updated as he took the oath of office on Friday.

“To get the economy back on track, President Trump has outlined a bold plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade and return to 4 percent annual economic growth,” the website reads in a page titled “Bringing Back Jobs And Growth.” The strategy includes lower tax rates and less regulation, it says.

Donald Trump and Melania with Barack Obama and Michelle Obama before the inauguration at the White House in Washington

Another page reiterates pledges Trump made on trade policy during the campaign, saying the president’s strategy “starts by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and making certain that any new trade deals are in the interests of American workers.” Trump is also “committed to renegotiating” the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The US economy has expanded at an average annualised rate of 2.1 per cent since the last recession ended in June 2009. Economists expect gross domestic product to grow 2.3 per cent both this year and next year, according to the median estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The last time US growth topped 4 per cent in a full calendar year was in 2000, at 4.1 per cent.

Trump in September called for a “national goal” of 4 per cent economic growth while also saying his plans would create an average of 3.5 per cent expansion over 10 years. 

His Treasury secretary nominee, Steven Mnuchin, told lawmakers Thursday in his confirmation hearing that “we should be able to get to” a sustained rate of 3 per cent to 4 per cent growth.