President Donald Trump told NBC News in his Super Bowl interview that the United States is now in the Trump economy and predicted that 2026 will be even stronger than 2025.
When NBC News anchor Tom Llamas asked Trump at what point the United States is “in the Trump economy,” the president said, “I’d say we’re there now,” citing estimates of extremely strong fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth. The Atlanta Fed predicted in January 5.4 percent GDP growth for the quarter.
“I’m very proud of it, 5.6 percent. You know, we have a GDP of 5.6 despite a shutdown, we had a 42-day shutdown,” Trump said. “I call it the Democrat shutdown, and because of that, I lost a point and a half. I would have been at a seven GDP, which hasn’t been seen, I don’t know, ever maybe.”
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett estimated in November that the Democrat shutdown was costing America $15 billion per week and would knock 1.0 to 1.5 percent off of GDP for the quarter.
The Atlanta Fed GDP prediction as of Monday is 4.2 percent for quarter 4.
Trump said that 2026 will be even stronger than 2025.
“I think ’26 is even going to be better,” he told Llamas. “You know, we have hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into our country–actually, trillions; $18 trillion is being invested in our country as we speak, and there are factories and plants and thousands of businesses being built all over the country.”
“I just spoke to President Xi of China. Nobody has ever seen anything like what’s happening right now in America,” he added.
Llamas followed up by asking when Americans would see factories opening, and the president emphasized that widespread construction is currently underway.
“Well, you’re already seeing it in construction because they’re all building. You know, we have factories being built. Car plants are coming in from Canada, coming in from Mexico. They’re leaving Germany, Japan, they’re all coming into the United States,” Trump said.
“And you’re seeing it in your construction numbers. And you know… we have to build them, and the plants are under construction,” he continued, adding that plants will be opening over the next year and a half.