- President Trump is looking to former President Biden as the source of any downturn in the markets.
- "This is Biden's Stock Market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20th," he said on Truth Social.
- Trump in recent weeks has sought to reassure the public over fallout from his tariff strategy.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed former President Joe Biden for the poor performance of the stock market during the first 100 days of his second term.
Trump in a morning post on his Truth Social platform defended his economic policies while urging Americans to "be patient," amid news that the US economy also contracted in the first quarter of the year.
"This is Biden's Stock Market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20th," he wrote. "Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden 'Overhang.'"
"This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other," he added.
In January 2024, when Biden was still in office, Trump said that investors saw him as the likely winner of that year's presidential election and dubbed that market the "Trump stock market."
Trump's current tariff plan, which has continued to evolve ever since his April 2 "Liberation Day" speech, led to fluctuations in the stock and bond markets throughout the month.
Trump on Tuesday celebrated the first 100 days of his presidency, touting his actions on everything from immigration to the overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.
However, the US economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter, weighed down by tariff fears and sparking concerns about a potential recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped nearly 7% since Trump took office in January, the worst performance at the onset of a presidency since Richard Nixon's abbreviated second term in 1973, per Dow Jones Market Data. Through April 28, the S&P 500 has declined nearly 8% since Trump took office for his second stint in the White House.
