Voters will judge Trump on the economy – how is it doing?

In the run-up to the midterms, Trump will use Thursday’s growth figures to paint his economic approach as the right one.

The economy grew by 2% on an annualised basis in the first quarter of 2026, a significant boost after a slowdown at the end of 2025, official statistics showed.

That came despite pressure on consumers from US tariffs, which led to higher prices for American shoppers, and the fresh energy shock sparked by the Iran war.

Economists said the hit to consumers was not as bad as feared, with consumption growing by 1.6% on an annualised basis. But they also attributed the overall increase in growth to the huge sums being spent by tech giants investing in the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI).

James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, said that as consumer spending cools, “investment linked to tech and AI has clearly become the main engine of growth in the US”.