Trump holds back crucial detail in attack on Congressional Budget Office

President Donald Trump attacked the Congressional Budget Office after its analysts found his tariff plan would cut the federal deficit, but he said their findings weren't issued soon enough.

The nonpartisan legislative agency found the tariffs would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period, which Trump highlighted on Truth Social, but he did not say their analysis also showed the duties would shrink the economy, raise inflation and cut household purchasing power.

"Shockingly, the Democrat controlled CBO just announced that the Tariffs will be reducing the Deficit by at least $2.8 Trillion Dollars," Trump posted Thursday morning. "Too bad this information couldn’t have been released earlier, it would have kept people from knowingly saying untruths."

Congress established the CBO more than 50 years ago to provide objective, impartial analysis to guide their budget process, and its roughly 275 employees are required to produce a cost estimate for almost all bills approved by legislative committees or when asked by lawmakers, and its analysis of Trump's tariffs estimated they would increase the average annual rate of inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026.

"If the Administration makes additional changes to tariffs, the budget baseline will be adjusted to reflect the budgetary implications of those changes as they take effect," CBO Director Phillip Swagel wrote.