Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says he could take government spending out of his agency's reports on gross domestic product.

Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because changes in taxes, spending, deficits and regulations by the government can impact the path of overall growth.

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

The health of the US economy is looking less and less stable by the day. Layoffs are rising. Consumer spending — the backbone of the economy — unexpectedly dropped in January. Consumer confidence has plunged.

Only a couple years ago, manufacturers were fighting for space to relocate their operations to Monterrey, an industrial city in Mexico’s northeast, as they sought to move closer to the US and its vast consumer market.