The result underscores the challenge facing President Donald Trump in achieving his ambitious economic growth targets. The slowdown primarily reflected slower consumer spending, which grew by just 0.3 per cent after a 3.5 per cent gain in the fourth quarter. Many analysts believe that the impacts of Trump's economic program will not be felt until 2018 because they are not expecting Congress to approve some version of Trump's tax program until late this year. The GDP report released Friday was the first of three estimates the government will make of first quarter growth. The 0.7 per cent increase was the worst showing since GDP contracted by 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2014.

Source: CBC News April 28, 2017 16:30 UTC