U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday he would strip out government spending from the gross domestic product (GDP) report, but gave no indication how soon this change might happen, while dismissing fears of a possible recession.

If you ask an economics professor about what GDP is, they will tell you that it is the total value of all goods and services produced by a country at a given time. That’s a simple enough definition, but how do you calculate that massive number?

The Commerce Department in its most recent GDP report, showed that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3% in the final three months of 2024