April 23, 2024 — At the beginning of 2023, economists predicted the U.S. was either in – or would soon be in – a recession, while the E.U. faced similar predictions of slowed growth and high inflation.
During the Global Seafood Market Conference in early 2023, Wells Fargo Senior Economist Tim Quinlan said a recession was “penciled in” for the U.S., as signs pointed to dropoffs in consumer sentiment and the highest inflation in 40 years. In late 2022, the European Commission published its economic forecast, stating the E.U. economy was at “a turning point” and predicting contracting economic activity in the first quarter of 2023, with most member states expected to “experience a technical recession” in the winter of late 2022 and early 2023.