Certain sectors of the US economy (mining, agriculture, manufacturing) have already been in and out of recessions for a few years now. These sector recessions h

Certain sectors of the US economy (mining, agriculture, manufacturing) have already been in and out of recessions for a few years now. These sector recessions have largely been hidden from the public because the banking sector is so much larger and has growth that outpaces the losses from the other sectors. So when you look at total GDP, the US economy was growing. But when you break GDP down into specific industries, you'll see that many of them have been struggling for a few years. The US BEA website has some great tools for exploring industry-specific economic output. Everyone wants to blame COVID-19 for the economic mess that's unfolding. But in reality, the trade war we went through with China hurt sectors of the American economy a lot. The country has been in a precarious position throughout 2018. It was just overlooked due to the performance of the financial industry, which is now beginning to wane. Edit: not => now