Trump adviser warns of zero growth if shutdown lingers this quarter

President Trump’s chief economist said Wednesday that the partial government shutdown could wipe out an entire quarter of GDP growth if it lasts until the end of March.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said Wednesday that the U.S. economy could see little to no growth in the first quarter of 2019 if the shutdown continues.“It is true that if we get a typically weak first quarter and then have an extended shutdown that we could end up with a number that’s very, very low,” Hassett told CNN on Wednesday, the 33rd day of the shutdown.When asked if the U.S. could see no growth at all in the first quarter, Hassett said, “Yes, we could,” if the shutdown lasted until the end of March.

The CEA has projected 1.7-percent annualized GDP growth for the first quarter, but estimated that each week of the shutdown could shave 0.1 percentage points off that total. At that rate, the GDP growth would fall 1.2 percentage points by the end of March.  

Hassett said the combination of a shutdown and usual economic slowness between January and March could quash growth in that quarter entirely, but that the U.S. economy would bounce back immediately.