White House officials defend sacking of labor statistics officials as critics warn of trust erosion
Top White House economic adviser fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for President Donald Trump on Sunday, opposing actions criticizing Trump could undermine confidence in official U.S. economic data.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS that Trump had a “real focus” on data, while National Economic Commission Director Kevin Hassett said the president “calls for the new leadership.”
Hassett said on Fox News that the focus was on Friday’s BLS report, with a net downward revision showing that May and June created 258,000 less work than previously reported.
Trump accused BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer of forging work numbers without providing any evidence of data manipulation. BLS compiles closely watched employment reports and price data for consumers and producers.
The BLS has no reason to make the revised data, but notes that “the monthly revisions have been generated by other reports received by businesses and government agencies since the last release of estimates and the recalculation of seasonal factors.”
U.S. President Donald Trump fired the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner because weaker job numbers suggest tariffs have not yet led to the economic boom he promised.
McEntarfer’s sack has exacerbated growing concerns about the quality of U.S. economic data released by the federal government, and followed closely by new U.S. tariffs on dozens of trading partners, with global stock markets in the process of reordering the global economy as Trump media reports.
“I think what we need is a brand new eye, someone who can clean up this,” Hassett said on Fox News Andey.
In an interview with CBS Facing the countryGreer acknowledges that there are always modifications to the working numbers, “but sometimes you see these revisions go in very extreme ways.”
“Rich fees”
Critics, including former BLS leaders, have slammed Trump’s move and called on Congress to investigate McEntarfer’s removal, saying it would undermine trust in respected statistical agencies.
William Beach, BLS Commissioner and co-chair of Friends of the BLS Group, said the commissioner was unable to drive the job figures.
“Every year we modify the numbers. When I was commissioner, we did 500,000 work revisions during President Trump’s first term,” Beach said in CNN’s CNN. internationality.
“Then why do we do that? Because the company is created, or the company goes bankrupt, we really don’t know in the year until we have really comprehensive calculations with all the businesses.”
Democrats and at least two Republican senators also criticized the firing.
“This is a ridiculous allegation. The numbers are grouped together by hundreds of people following detailed procedures in the manual,” former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said on the ABC on Sunday. This week.
“What will a bad leader do when he receives bad news?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech in the Senate on Friday.
There was a series of economic turmoil last week, and the fire broke out.
Hours before Friday’s tariff deadline, Trump signed an executive order that imposes duties on imports from countries such as Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan in his latest round of taxes as the state seeks ways to reach a better deal.
Greer and Hassett said Sunday that the tariffs could remain in place rather than as part of continuing negotiations.
Two Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday that India’s threat of continuing to buy oil from Russia would be threatened with additional fines. Trump imposed a new 25% tariff on Indian goods.
