An obviously amateurish brief published by the US Census Bureau should raise alarms for all businesses, investors, and others who rely on official government statistics. By recklessly undermining trust in what should be an apolitical public service, Donald Trump is jeopardizing a critical pillar of American prosperity.

WASHINGTON, DC—When US President Donald Trump fired the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics—claiming falsely that the agency’s economic data “were RIGGED” to make him “look bad”—we could at least take solace in the fact that the agency’s critically important work remained unadulterated.