Context matters.
You can’t look at metrics alone and then make a definitive conclusion about the state of the economy.
If you polled any CEO if they would rather be in a business environment that was under Obama or is under Trump, the answer would be “it depends.” They all would admit that the environment under Obama was pretty bad for making long term investments due to the uncertainty of what additional costs and burdens his policies would entail. With Trump, it’s the opposite. You have a fairly good handle that there won’t be surprise costs down the line, but you also have to navigate the higher immediate input cost of the trade war.
Of course Trump being Trump would never admit to the economy being affected by his trade policies, but it is. He’d be in a better place if he explained the necessary economic hit to reign China in.