White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Wednesday that "there's no recession in sight" for the American economy and that President Donald Trump "is on the right track" with his economic agenda.
"There's no recession in sight," Kudlow, who also served in the Reagan administration, told CNBC's Jim Cramer at the cable network's Delivering Alpha conference in New York.
"The American economy is in very good shape," said Kudlow, who was blunt in that he doesn't sense any economic trouble on the horizion. "I don't see it," said Kudlow, who worked as Reagan’s budget deputy between 1981 and 1985.
Kudlow also predicted robut economic growth for the near future. "We are getting 3 [percent] and it may be 4 for a quarter or two," said Kudlow, who served as the Trump campaign's senior economic adviser. "That's all for the good. Literally millions more people are working."
Economists widely expect second-quarter growth to approach 4 percent after GDP rose 2 percent in the first quarter and 2.3 percent for all of Trump's first year in office in 2017, CNBC explained.
To be sure, the U.S. economy is growing at a 4.5 percent annualized rate in the second quarter following recent strong data on retail sales and industrial production, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed just hours after Kudlow spoke.
The latest estimate on gross domestic product growth was faster than the 3.9 percent pace estimated last week and the same as Monday, the Atlanta Fed said.
The National Economic Council Director said that Trump's formula of tax cuts, deregulation, and other reforms — despite Wall Street fears over inflation, tariffs and a possible global trade war — will keep the nation's economic growth strong for some time.
Kudlow said the current administration is trying to pull America out of the "growth recession" it has been mired in since at least the 2008 financial crisis.
"You've got kids, millennials etc. ... who have never seen a full-fledged lasting prosperity," Kudlow said. "It's not that they're cynics, they've just never seen it. We haven't had one in 20 years," Kudlow said.
Asked whether the administration is considering more tax legislation following the cuts passed late last year, Kudlow said there could be a "2.0 and 3.0 and a 4.0."
The veteran financial guru and former Ronald Reagan adviser also endorsed recent interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve under Chairman Jerome Powell, whom Trump nominated to the post last year.
"I'm very happy the Fed is independent," Kudlow told Cramer. "I support what Jay Powell is doing. I don't want to spend a lot of time critiquing the Fed because I agree with what they're doing," said Kudlow.
"More people working and producing do not cause inflation," Kudlow said, noting factors that cause inflation include bad money, excess money, a sinking currency.
"When you do the math on these things, the buying of goods subject to tariffs times the tariff rate itself, is a small number relative to our [gross domestic product] that's important," Kudlow said.
"I think that can be overrated, from someone who doesn't like tariffs. But nonetheless, we're in good shape here and the discussions are ongoing," Kudlow said, referring to trade talks with China.
"I want to be as optimistic as I can, even though I'm more dissatisfied with China on this point," he said. "These things may change. We've got a lot going on here. There's a lot at stake here," Kudlow said.
"He's on the right track," Kudlow later added of Trump. "The story is on the right track," he said.
"Nothing succeeds better than success."
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