Martin Neil Baily, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Clinton, said Monday that the growing economy can be partly explained by President Trump inspiring and encouraging the U.S. business community.
“I think President Trump was able to sort of inspire and encourage the business community,” Baily told Hill.TV’s Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
“They were not that fond of President Obama, they thought he put in too many regulations,” he continued. “Whether those things did the things they were worried about, we can debate, but in any case, there was a sort of feeling that the government was not in tune with business, and Trump came in and changed that perception.”
Business groups often battled the Obama administration over regulations and ObamaCare. They have sometimes also bristled at Trump’s policies on trade, but have backed his regulatory and tax policies.
Trump late last year signed a tax-cut package that lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent.
“The other thing that was done, obviously, was the tax cut, and that has lowered corporate taxes, and so that is encouraging business investment, and there were some other tax cuts as well,” Baily said, referring to the Republican tax plan passed last year.
The Commerce Department announced on Friday that the U.S. economy grew at a 4.1 percent rate, marking the highest level of growth in roughly four years.
The gross domestic product (GDP) was also the strongest since the third quarter of 2014.
Trump, in turn, boasted about the numbers, citing his tax and regulatory policies.
“Everywhere we look, we’re seeing the effects of the economic miracle all across America,” the president said at the White House on Friday.
— Julia Manchester
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