The United States economy is showing increased signs of resilience.
The nation’s gross domestic product, a key indicator of economic strength, expanded at an annual rate of 3 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. The expansion defied concerns that hurricanes in Texas and Florida would put a damper on output.
Republicans called the report a sign that businesses were already spending more in anticipation of a corporate tax cut, and evidence that the economy could grow faster over the long term than currently forecast.
“If you look at the G.D.P. data, it’s clear that is a major reason,” Kevin Hassett, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, asserted on Friday.
Many economists, however, are reluctant to give Congress or the administration too much credit for the economy’s trajectory.
“There hasn’t been anything concrete in terms of spending or tax cuts that we can point to that’s fueling the acceleration,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. If anyone deserves credit for the good news, he said, it is the Federal Reserve chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen.
The economy is experiencing its fastest growth spurt in two consecutive quarters since 2014, after hitting 3.1 percent in the spring, a level that prompted President Trump to suggest that “we’re really on our way” to sustaining that pace year-round. “On a yearly basis, as you know, the last administration, during an eight-year period, never hit 3 percent,” Mr. Trump said during a speech in Missouri in August.
