Hassett has repeatedly forecast 4% GDP growth, with no confirmed new remark today
The National Economic Council director has floated 4% growth figures several times since late 2025, according to prior reporting
Published
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, has for months pointed to a 4% growth figure for the US economy. On May 6, 2026, he told Fox Business he was "highly confident" growth would hit "4% numbers for the rest of the year," pointing to AI-driven investment and bonus depreciation tax policies as the drivers.
That call followed an earlier one. In November 2025, after a government shutdown, Hassett forecast a return to 3% to 4% growth by the first quarter of 2026, according to GV Wire's account of a CNBC interview. At the time, outside forecasters were well below that range: the Federal Reserve at 2.4%, a Wall Street Journal survey at 2.1% and the Congressional Budget Office at 2.2%, per a comparison posted by Catherine Rampell.
By May 2026, Hassett had gone further still, telling an audience growth could run "north of four, north of five, north of even six percent," according to economist James Hamilton's Econbrowser, who noted the administration's own budget projection for 2026 stood at 3.4%.
Hassett has also been described as a leading candidate to become the next Federal Reserve chair, according to reporting cited by Roic News. A 4% growth call, set against his own past estimate of 2.5% productivity growth, implies an unusually strong labor contribution to the economy, a pattern consistent with talking up growth while pressing the Fed toward holding rates rather than cutting them further. Such comments carry no policy weight of their own; the actual path of interest rates still depends on inflation data and on the Fed's own decision-making, not on messaging from the administration.