The United States lost its last AAA rating! The White House criticizes Moody's.

Local time on Friday, after the international rating agency Moody's downgraded the credit rating of the United States, the White House criticized it as a political decision. Steven Cheung, spokesperson for US President Trump, criticized Moody's economist Mark Zandi in a post on X, accusing him of criticizing the policies of the Trump administration for a long time. "Mark Zandi, economist at Moody's, was a consultant for Obama and a donor to Clinton, and has been an 'anti-Trump' person since 2016," the spokesperson wrote. "No one takes his 'analysis' seriously. He has been proven wrong time and time again." Earlier on Friday, Moody's downgraded the sovereign credit rating of the United States from Aaa to Aa1, citing the continuous increase in the ratio of US government debt to interest payments. In a statement, Moody's said that over the past decade, the growth in US government debt and the ratio of interest payments has been significantly higher compared to other countries with similar ratings. "While we recognize that the US has significant advantages in economics and finance, these advantages are no longer enough to fully offset the deterioration of fiscal metrics," the agency stated. This milestone move has raised doubts about the US's status as the world's highest-quality sovereign debt nation. Prior to this, the other two major international rating agencies, S&P and Fitch, had already downgraded the credit rating of the United States from the highest level of AAA. Regarding Moody's downgrade of the US sovereign credit rating, Peter Boockvar, Chief Investment Officer of Bleakley Financial Group, commented, "The fundamental problem facing US government debt is the decreasing foreign demand, while the debt that needs constant refinancing continues to grow. This will not change. But Moody's action is symbolic, pointing out the problem of US debt and deficits by a major rating agency." Joe Lavorgna, who served as Chief Economist of the White House National Economic Council during Trump's first term, questioned Moody's downgrade of the US rating. He said in a media interview on Friday that the timing of Moody's statement (while Congress is pushing for a tax bill) was "very strange." He said Moody's assumptions about growth in revenue were "overly pessimistic." Trump has always claimed that his economic agenda - centered around tax cuts, deregulation, and comprehensive tariff imposition to create more manufacturing jobs in the US - will promote strong economic growth. It is still unclear whether losing the final "AAA" rating will lead to changes in Washington's policies. Currently, the US federal budget deficit is close to $2 trillion per year, equivalent to over 6% of GDP. At present, US lawmakers are working on a large-scale tax bill, involving the continuation of tax cuts implemented by Trump in his first term, as well as additional tax cuts promised in the last election. Just hours before Moody's announced its decision, the US House Budget Committee rejected a massive tax and spending bill proposed by Republicans. Five conservative members of the committee, along with all Democratic members, voted against it, citing concerns about the cost of the bill. As the House Budget Committee was voting on the bill, Trump called on Republican lawmakers to fully support his economic agenda. He shouted on Truth Social, "The public doesn't need 'populists'. Stop talking and get things done! This article was originally published by "Cai Lian She"; edited by GMTEight: Li Fo.