Often quoted on the campaign trail, then presidential candidate Donald Trump promised American voters that, if elected, the country would see an economic “boom like no other.”

Well, Trump’s promised boom is looking increasingly like a big bust.

Yesterday, S&P released its flash PMI Index and business sentiment survey, and the downward trends should make the Administration take note.

The economy is not booming, nor are the spirits of American businesses.

Quite frankly, the outlook is depressing.

The report states, “The headline S&P Global US PMI Composite Output Index fell from 53.5 in March to 51.2 in April, according to the preliminary ‘flash’ reading. The fall in the index signals a deceleration of activity growth to a 16-month low from the three-month high seen in March.”

A 16-month low?

That is definitely not a boom.

Furthermore, what is very interesting is that the slowdown is not confined to goods, as one might expect given the chaotic tariff situation. Growth in the service sector also slowed sharply.

The service sector saw the second weakest expansion recorded over the past year. Additionally, “new business inflows in the services sector showed the second smallest gain recorded over the past 11 months, often linked by survey respondents to uncertainty surrounding the economy and tariffs.”

A major driver of the subdued demand growth was a fall in export services, including tourism-related services and other such cross-border activities.

Foreign travellers are choosing not to head to the United States. America has long been a major destination of choice for many Canadians – however, they are now voicing their distaste with American policies by spending their travel dollars elsewhere. Nearly 900,000 fewer Canadians headed south in March 2025 than in March 2024.

Furthermore, confidence among businesses is falling just as fast.

When thinking about their upcoming output for the year, the third consecutive month, companies felt pessimistic about their prospects. The result was a sharp drop in sentiment to register the least optimistic outlook since July 2022.

The April survey saw many companies cite concerns over government policies and the resulting economic uncertainty as the reason for their negative outlook.

Finally, the report found that tariffs are driving costs up, resulting in rising prices.

The report saw that the average prices charged for goods and services rose at the sharpest rate in 13 months.

As expected, due to Trump’s tariffs, the increases were substantial in the manufacturing sector, which saw the rate of inflation hit a 29-month high. Services saw a seven-month high rate of inflation.

The increases were attributed to rising costs directly linked to tariffs, rising import prices, and increased labor costs.

Far from the promised economic boom, all this data gives a clear outlook of where the United States economy is heading, and that direction is downward towards a bust.