When two of US President Donald Trump’s top lieutenants issued a call to remove government spending from the nation’s most-watched gauge of economic growth, they waded into an old and fierce debate that goes far beyond statistics.

Heterodox economists have long criticized politicians’ maniacal obsession with GDP growth, pointing to its relatively recent creation as a measure of national accounts and its limits as a catch-all indicator of a country’s economic health.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wants to separate government spending from GDP, which economists worry could lead to cherry-picking data for political gain.

The Trump administration wants to create a separate report about the economy that strips out the impact of government spending. The Commerce Department already does this.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday questioned Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick over the access tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has to his

The stock market dropped sharply in recent days as investors worried about the effects of new tariffs on Canada and Mexico by President Trump.

Elon Musk wants to privatize the United States ... He doubled down last month, saying that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would “look into” folding the Postal Service into the Commerce ...

The agency plans changes that will make Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service eligible for more rural broadband funding.

Elon Musk may be getting another handout from the federal government. The Wall Street Journal reports that the tech mogul’s satellite internet company, Starlink, could soon make up to $20 billion thanks to a Commerce Department overhaul of a Biden-era program to expand broadband internet access to rural areas.

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