By Edith Loyola 
The Democratic leadership in the United States Congress issued a joint statement on Wednesday criticizing President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Their remarks focused on what they described as failures related to economic, trade, and fiscal policy.
According to Democratic leaders, the administration’s decisions have been marked by tariff fluctuations, immigration restrictions, and budget cuts in key areas of federal spending.
The Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, gave the president’s performance a failing grade:
“The Trump presidency deserves a big F for total failure. Donald Trump said he would reduce costs for American families, but those costs have only gone up and up because the tariffs are making things worse.”
Schumer also expressed disagreement with the administration’s foreign policy direction during this period, pointing to a distancing from traditional allies and criticizing cuts to public programs.
“Trump wants to be a dictator and a monarch. He is leading the economy toward disaster and total chaos.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries addressed the recently released GDP figures, which show a 0.3% contraction in the first quarter of the year, on an annualized basis.
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“This is not Joe Biden’s economy, Donald. It’s your economy. It’s the Trump economy—a failed economy—something the American people know all too well.”
According to the report published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the GDP decline was driven by an increase in imports and a reduction in government spending. The figure marks the first quarterly contraction since 2022, while the quarter-over-quarter figure declined by just under 0.1%.
President Trump commented on the economic figures during a cabinet meeting held on Wednesday to commemorate his first 100 days back in office. On that occasion, he denied that the negative indicators reflected the effects of his policies.
“These are not Trump numbers, because we came in January. They are just quarterly data, and I was strongly opposed to everything Biden was doing in terms of the economy.”
The president maintained that his economic policies will take time to yield results. He also suggested that the responsibility for the current negative figures may continue to rest with the previous administration if the trend continues into the second quarter.