President Joe Biden declared Thursday the state of the economy “doesn’t sound like a recession,” before walking away without taking any questions from reporters.

Biden gave remarks after data showed the real GDP decreased at an annual rate of 0.9% in the second quarter of 2022, sparking many to claim the U.S. is in, or trending toward, a recession. Biden tried to downplay concerns, saying that the economy is on the right track, and is not indicative of a recession.

“Passing the CHIP bill is going to put another $72 billion dollars for incentives and tax credits to expand semiconductor production,” Biden said. “And the Inflation Reduction Act will add another $370 billion in clean energy tax credits in reconciliation, including incentives to accelerate domestic production of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and critical materials processing. That doesn’t sound like a recession to me. Thank you very much.”

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Biden then walked away from the podium without taking a single question. (RELATED: ‘Americans Hate This Economy,’ Says CNN Reporter)

The Biden administration has tried to downplay claims that Thursday’s GDP report is indicative of a recession.

While the National Bureau of Economic Research uses several factors to determine whether the U.S. is in a recession, economist Julius Shiskin wrote in 1974 that two consecutive quarters of declining GDP is a good rule of thumb to define a recession, with that definition becoming somewhat of a standard.

White House Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese said Thursday that “virtually nothing signals” a recession.