Trump fires head of labor statistics

[Anchor]

As soon as President Trump wrapped up reciprocal tariff negotiations, unusual signals emerged in the U.S. economy.

Job, or employment indicators, have been significantly shaken, leading to a sharp decline in the New York stock market overnight.

What was President Trump's reaction?

He exclaimed, "The statistics are manipulated," and fired the director in charge.

This is Park Il-jung reporting from New York.

[Report]

This toy store, which has been in business for over 40 years in New York, is about to close.

It is struggling to cope with the tariff policy.

[Jennifer Bergman/Toy Store Owner: "No one knew what was going to happen. And so, no one could plan. You can't plan when there's chaos."]

Manufacturing activity is also not looking good.

In March of this year, the manufacturing activity index entered a contraction phase, and last month it recorded its lowest level in nine months.

As a result, the employment situation is worsening.

Last month, only 73,000 new jobs were created, which was lower than experts' expectations.

In particular, the previously reported figures of over 140,000 new jobs in May and June were drastically revised downward to the tens of thousands, shocking the market.

Some attribute this to the tariff policy.

[Mark Hamrick/Senior Economic Analyst at Bankrate: "The uncertainty and certainty of tariffs and the economy really prompting employers to hit the pause button? And you have to say, that's what's been happening."]

However, President Trump stated that it was not the impact of tariffs and fired the statistics director appointed by the previous administration.

[Donald Trump/President of the United States: "I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election. And there were other times. So you know what I did? I fired her."]

The day before, there was also an announcement that inflation rates had increased.

Concerns are rising that the U.S. economy is falling into a difficult situation of high inflation and worsening conditions due to tariff policies.

This is Park Il-jung from KBS News in New York.