The American economy grew at an annual rate of 2.6 percent last quarter, a big pickup from the beginning of 2017, but well short of the pace President Trump has promised and lower than what many experts had been anticipating until recently.

Still, the Commerce Department’s report issued on Friday is a sign that the economy remains on track, with underlying growth in line with where it has been since the current recovery began eight years ago this summer.

On Wall Street, economists had been expecting growth of 2.5 percent for the second quarter. The new data on gross domestic product come after positive figures this week on orders for durable goods in June and a slightly more favorable trade balance.

In the first quarter of this year, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.2 percent, a disappointing showing by any measure and one that followed slow seasonal starts over the past several years.

As a result, economists initially expected a strong rebound, with the consensus in May calling for 3.7 percent growth. Those hopes came down to earth however, amid lackluster spending by consumers, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of all economic activity.

The economy benefited last quarter from healthy consumer spending and exports, while less robust state and local spending, along with inventories were a headwind.

The figure released on Friday is the first of three estimates that the Commerce Department will provide on growth in April, May and June, and the final number could be revised higher or lower. Government statisticians refine their estimates as more data on factors like consumer spending, business investment, factory orders and imports and exports come in.

The White House has said that its long-term target for growth is 4 percent, and President Trump has repeatedly said that the economy could grow even faster if regulations were rolled back and trade policies were toughened to encourage American companies to manufacture more of their products in the United States.

But many economists say that goal is unrealistic, given fundamental factors like an aging population and the retirement of the baby boomers, along with years of slow productivity gains.

The last time annual economic growth topped 4 percent was in 2000, at the tail end of the tech-fueled boom of the late-1990s. Since then, the American economy’s best annual performance was in 2005, just before the bursting of the housing bubble, when annual growth was 3.3 percent.