WASHINGTON �� The surge in the U.S. economy in the second quarter shows that the U.S. is "well on the path" for four or five years of sustained annual growth of 3 percent, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday.
"We can only project a couple years in the future, but I think we're well on this path for several years," Mnuchin said on "Fox News Sunday."
The U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter to the fastest pace since 2014, the government reported Friday, allowing President Donald Trump to link the increase to his economic policies.
Trump "deserves the victory lap," White House economic director Larry Kudlow said on CNN, adding that faster economic growth could continue for a "bunch" of years.
Mnuchin said Trump respects the independence of the Federal Reserve, despite the president's recent criticism of the central bank for raising interest rates.
Mnuchin said it was responsible for the Fed to raise rates as the economy grows faster and inflation rises.
"The Fed has been targeting 2 percent inflation, and obviously with 2 percent inflation we have to have at least slightly higher interest rates to manage through that," he said.
Trump said on Twitter Sunday that the "best results coming out of the good GDP report was that the quarterly Trade Deficit has been reduced by $52 Billion and, of course, the historically low unemployment numbers, especially for African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Women."
The 4.1 percent annual rate of gross domestic product increase was propelled by consumer spending, business investment and a decline in the trade deficit.
The Trump administration's goal is for sustained GDP growth of 3 percent a year, compared with the average 2.3 percent pace during the current expansion, and the Fed's longer-run expectation of 1.8 percent.
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(Ben Brody and Mark Niquette contributed to this report.)
