Trump makes blockbuster prediction about US economy in surprise interview with Hannity

President Donald Trump made a bold prediction about the United States economy during a surprise radio interview Friday with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Trump's predication came after the government revealed on Friday that the U.S. gross domestic product grew by a whopping 4.1 percent during the second quarter of 2018.

What did Trump say?

Trump characterized Friday's news as "just a stepping stone," telling Hannity he imagines the economy soon growing at 8 or 9 percent. Those gains would result from slashing the U.S. trade deficit "in half," Trump said.

The president also boasted the economy's performance is "far ahead of what anybody thought" it could be under his leadership.

"We’re doing great. We could do a lot better, the fact is that if I can cut the trade deficit from $817 billion, think of that, we have a trade deficit with other countries — that’s trading with other countries, 817 billion — if I cut it in half, right there, we’ll pick up 3 to 4 points, so you could add that to the 4 of 5 and so we’d be at 8 or 9," Trump said.

"Now, I don’t want to say that too much and I didn’t want to say too much during the campaign because I would have been criticized, people wouldn’t have believed it. But now they’re starting to believe," he added.

According to CNBC, the economy has not grown at rates that Trump predicts since the 1980s.