A survey of economists suggests U.S. economic growth will slow steadily in coming quarters after touching a four-year high in April-June, the result of damage inflicted by President Donald Trump's trade war.
Boosted in part by $1.5 trillion of tax cuts passed late last year, the U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.1% in the second quarter, its strongest performance in nearly four years.
But the latest poll of more than 100 economists taken Aug. 13-21 showed they expect the U.S. economy to lose momentum and to end next year growing at less than half that rate.
The U.S. economy was forecast to grow 3% in the current quarter and 2.7% in the next, a slight upgrade from the previous poll.
But the short-term boost to growth from tax cuts was expected to wane. Economists trimmed their growth projections across most quarters next year leaving the outlook broadly unchanged and vulnerable to the trade conflict with China.
Nearly two-thirds of 56 economists who answered an extra question said they have considered the impact of Trump's expanding trade war in their U.S. growth predictions... a near identical proportion to a poll of economists covering the euro-zone published on Wednesday.
