The US economy slowed last year to register its worst performance since 2011 after the strong dollar sent exports tumbling and encouraged American businesses to import cheaper components from abroad. It was the worst showing since 2011 and down markedly from 2.6% growth in 2015. Analysts said the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of last year’s presidential election and the UK’s Brexit vote meant that forecasts of trade and GDP growth were becoming cloudy and less predictable. America’s poor trade performance subtracted 1.7 percentage points from growth in the final three months of 2016. He said: “Going forward, much will depend on the scale and timing of any fiscal stimulus by the new Trump administration, which could push US GDP growth to over 3% by 2018.

Source: The Guardian January 27, 2017 14:16 UTC