President Biden on Friday urged President-elect Donald Trump to keep his economic agenda in place, arguing that he’s leaving the incoming administration a stronger economy than what was handed to him in 2021.

In evening remarks from the White House, Mr. Biden said he single-handedly transformed an economy wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the policies implemented by Mr. Trump during his first term. He said that transformation happened because he abandoned so-called trickle-down economics to help the middle class.

Mr. Biden implored Mr. Trump not to change course by abandoning the economic policies he’s inheriting. 

“The new playbook is working, but in 10 days our administration will end and the new administration will begin,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re going to face another inflection point. Do we want to continue to grow the economy for the middle out and the bottom up as we have the past four years? Or do we backslide to an economic theory that benefits those at the very top?”

Mr. Biden pointed to Friday morning’s jobs report from the Labor Department, which showed job growth was much stronger than expected in December. The report found that nonfarm payrolls surged by 256,000 for the month, up from 212,000 in November. That was significantly above Wall Street’s expectations. 

In addition, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, just a tick below the November rate. 

Mr. Biden said the strong numbers are evidence his economic policies worked, pointing to the high unemployment rates when Mr. Trump left office. However, those numbers were somewhat inflated because of the COVID shutdown.

“I believe the economy I’m leaving is the best in the world and stronger than ever for all Americans. We’ll see what the next president does,” he said.

Mr. Biden’s plea will likely fall on deaf ears as Mr. Trump has pledged to take a wrecking ball to most of his predecessor’s economic agenda, including repealing large parts of the president’s tax, climate and health law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

Mr. Trump has pledged to dismantle funding to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country and to roll back some of the money allocated for clean hydrogen production.

Most voters viewed Mr. Biden’s economy as a bust, despite his insistence otherwise. Election Day exit polling showed that the economy was the reason most Americans voted for Mr. Trump instead of Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Real incomes, which measure household purchasing power, had declined under Mr. Biden, causing voters to sour on his record. Voters had become weary after being battered by inflation, which reached 9% in 2022. 

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.