U.S. Economic Growth Slowed in Fourth Quarter

[applegrove]

U.S. Economic Growth Slowed in Fourth Quarter

February 20, 2026 at 10:48 am EST By Chris Riback 101 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2026/02/20/u-s-economic-growth-slowed-in-fourth-quarter/

“The U.S. economy grew at a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, weighed down by a record-long government shutdown,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“For 2025, the economy grew 2.2%, the slowest annual growth since 2022, according to Commerce Department data. Consumer confidence dropped in January to a more than decade-low level, and job creation stalled in 2025.”

Financial Times: “As recently as last month, analysts had expected bumper fourth-quarter growth, driven by robust spending by richer consumers and AI-fuelled business investment. The Atlanta Fed had predicted a GDP growth rate as high as 5.4 per cent.”

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-New GDP data falls far short, shows 2025 ended with weak economic growth

In the first year of Trump’s second term, economic growth fell to a nine-year low, and domestic job growth fell to a 16-year low. It’s worth asking why.

As Trump rambles on about how “dead” the economy was, remember:

2024, under Biden: 1.45 million jobs
2025, under Trump: 181,000 jobs

2024, under Biden: 2.8% GDP growth
2025, under Trump: 2.2% GDP growth

The question for the White House is simple: Why did things get worse after Trump returned?

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-20T21:56:47.789Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/new-gdp-data-falls-short-trump

Earlier this week, Peter Navarro, a leading White House voice on trade and economic policy, appeared on Fox News and insisted that the U.S. economy is “perfect.” In fact, during the same on-air comments, Navarro described the economic conditions in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term as the best since 1998, dovetailing with the president’s near-constant insistence that the domestic economy has literally never been as healthy as it is now......

But as the week comes to an end, the latest economic news adds insult to injury. CNBC reported:

Economic growth slowed more than expected near the end of 2025 while inflation held firm, according to data released Friday that could complicate the Federal Reserve’s path on interest rates.

Gross domestic product rose at an annualized rate of just 1.4%, according to Commerce Department numbers released Friday, well below the Dow Jones estimate for a 2.5% gain.

What’s more, we now know that the economy grew at a 2.2% pace across all of 2025 — down from 2.8% in 2024. Excluding the pandemic, 2025 showed the weakest economic growth in the United States in nine years.

In other words, despite endless Republican hype, economic growth and job growth were stronger during Joe Biden’s final year in office compared with the first year of Trump’s second term.

The White House has not yet offered a persuasive explanation as to why the economy got worse after the Republican returned to the Oval Office......

If recent history is any guide, the administration will try to move the goalposts again, but the underlying question for the White House remains the same: As a candidate, Trump promised to deliver immediate, Day 1 results. Why did he fail?