WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economic growth rate will increase to 3.1 percent in 2018 and remain above 3 percent through 2020, according to President Donald Trump's first official economic report to Congress released on Wednesday.
"The Trump Administration is the first since that of President Ronald Reagan to see positive economic growth exceed its first-year forecast," said the Economic Report of the President, written by the Council of Economic advisers, in a detailed analysis of economic policies by Trump's staff.
"If fully implemented, President Trump's economic agenda would lead to 3 percent annual GDP growth on average throughout the next decade," the report added.
"The headline in the economic report is that we're not in a new normal of low growth, but we're just in a normal period again where we can go back to growing about 3 percent that we always expected," said Kevin Hassett, Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers.
Economists, however, believe that a growth rate of 3 percent is not sustainable for the U.S. economy. According to the Federal Reserve, the long-term growth rate of the U.S. economy is around 1.8 percent, due to aging population and slower growth of productivity.
The real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in 2017, well below the 3 percent Trump promised, according to data released by the Commerce Department.