White House insider tears apart Trump fantasy he'll reach economic growth goals

President Donald Trump's former chairman of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn doesn't think that the country is likely to meet the economic goals for 2026. Speaking at an event hosted by Semafor, Cohen, who still advises Trump on economic matters, was asked about the administration's promise to hit 4 to 5 percent growth goals and whether he thinks it'll still happen. "This year? I do not," he said frankly. The comment comes after Cohn told Yahoo Finance that the higher gas prices are "absolutely recessionary in the short term." "There's nothing more instantaneous to a consumer than standing there holding down the gas nozzle and watching the numbers tick on the pump ... And if they were paying $80 a week ago, and they're paying $85 this week and they were paying $60 a month ago, they know that 'I lost $20 of disposable income in filling up this tank of gas,'" added Cohn on March 19. AAA reported at the end of March that gas prices rocketed up $1 per gallon over the first month of the Iran war. That price has not come down in the first part of April. As of April 16, the average price per gallon in the U.S. is $4.09.It has been a year since Cohn came out against Trump's tariffs, calling them "highly regressive. Meaning poorer people pay a disproportionate percentage."He also told "Face the Nation" over the weekend that he's watched the job market degrade," though he said that it might be "temporary." "Over the last three or four months, we have gone from creating well over 100,000 jobs a month to creating less than 50,000 jobs a month," Cohn said. "I do think that we have seen companies cut back on the amount of employees they have."Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that he didn't want to put "too much emphasis on payroll job creation," however, "it's just one of the things that suggests that the labor market is really cooling off.""That tells you that it's time to take that into account," Powell added. .@lizrhoffman: "The administration is still talking about 4 or 5% growth this year. You think we'll hit it?"@Gary_D_Cohn: "This year? I do not." pic.twitter.com/yLkYEcR2ZH— Semafor (@semafor) April 16, 2026