Donald Trump says US growth rate likely to touch 5 per cent

US President Donald Trump today said the country's growth rate is likely to touch five per cent as against the existing 3.2 per cent, on the back of an improved economy and job creation by new factories. Trump, whose first four-year term ends in January 2021, forecast that the US' growth rate may surpass the five per cent mark in his second term in the office.

"We're going to go higher than that, but that may be in the second term," said Trump, who needs to win the November 2020 presidential elections to secure a second term. 

"If you think we've made so much progress in the last year and a half, it's put us in this position and we're going up. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. And watch those GDP numbers. We started off at a very low number, and right now we hit a 3.2, nobody thought that was possible in four years," Trump told his supporters after the ground-breaking ceremony of Foxconn factory in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.

"But I think it's going to go a lot higher than that, so you watch those numbers. Each point is USD 3 trillion and 10 million jobs, just remember that. We already hit a 3.2 and I think we're going to be seeing 4's and I think we're going to be seeing 5's, too," he said.

Trump said the ground-breaking of the Foxconn facility in Wisconsin is "only one part of the exciting story" that is playing out across the nation.

"Chrysler is shifting production from Mexico to Michigan, Toyota and Mazda will build a new facility in Alabama, a beautiful facility and we have many other companies coming in, not only the car companies," he added.

Trump asserted that the leaders around the world are congratulating him for the American "economic success".

"This is where the action is. I go around and I see the leaders of different countries and they always say congratulations on the great economic success that you're having in the US. We have an economy that's almost twice the size of China and much larger than any other," Trump said.

In his remarks, Trump described Foxconn manufacturing facility as the "eight wonder of the world".

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"Congratulations on truly (being) one of the eighth wonders - I think we can say this is the eighth wonder of the world. This is something so special, so I want to just congratulate you all...," he said.

The United States, he said, is now open for business.

"We are open for business, made in the USA, it's all happening and it's happening very, very quickly. We've created 3.4 million jobs since the election, including over 300,000 manufacturing jobs and as the recent poll just came out, the highest percentage of happiness by manufacturers in the history of the poll, which is a very old poll," he said.

The US president also cited the decline in unemployment across the country. 

"Unemployment claims are the lowest they've been in 44 years, unemployment for African Americans is at the lowest level in history. Unemployment for Hispanic Americans, the lowest level in history. Unemployment among women is at the lowest level in 65 years, and it's going to be in history very soon," he said.

To buttress his claims, Trump said a recent study found that 95 per cent of manufacturers want to get going.