The Economy of Trump's America

Since January last year, Donald J. Trump officially is in office as the president of the United States of America. During the months of his campaign, he made many bolt promises, especially regarding the economy. He promised, for example, to protect the true American products by raising tariffs for countries that try to offer products cheaper than America can. Another promise was to make America completely independent regarding its energy, so they would no longer have to import it. Now that Trumps presidency has lasted for 1,5 years, I would say it is time to take the actions of America’s latest president under the loop and see to what degree he has delivered on his promises. As a disclaimer, I will say that, for this article, I shall keep my political preferences aside and focus on the mere economic aspects of the decisions made and talk about some of the consequences they might have.

 

 Now, knowing that the subject matter is touchy and people might feel personally affected due to their political opinion, I want to emphasize that the following stated is based on facts and is not influenced by what my own political preference might be. That said, most people will know by now that so far Trump has already upheld some of his promises. For example, stepping out of the Paris climate agreement, making it possible for many American companies to boost their production or use formerly-restricted methods to increase efficiency. This, in turn, creates more profits, giving opportunities for expansion and ultimately more job opportunities. This decision, together with several other job-stimulating measures did have a very positive influence on the unemployment rate in America, bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.8%, the lowest it has been in 18 years. Furthermore, both output and income levels are rising and this trend does not have any signs of stopping soon. So, for the average working American, things seem to be on the up and up.

Bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.8%, the lowest it has been in 18 years

Trump does not shy away from taking credit for these developments and goes as far as to say that: “In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America,”
Based on raw numbers this may be true in some ways. However, if we are to be completely objective then we have to place these words into context. What the president means by this, is that for many measurables, for example, production and output, the numbers are the highest they have ever been. This is, if you keep in mind that through technologic advancements these naturally increase, not that great a feat.

In many ways this is the greatest economy in the HISTORY of America

There still are many of Trump’s promises that are still in the works, like raising tariffs on foreign products that threaten American products. What those will mean for the economy we can, of course, not say for sure. However, it is usually not beneficial to discourage trade between countries by raising tariffs in the long run. Though this is the cause for some concern regarding trade between America and the rest of the world, the changes are not accepted yet. We can also not yet predict what the tariffs would be and how far they would actually go. So, in regards to those changes, we can only hope that the eventual changes will not hurt the international trade too bad.

This is the cause for some concern regarding trade between America and the rest of the world

Now we can conclude, based on the information we discussed, so far, the new American economy does not look all too bad. Trump was given a country on it’s way to recovering from a recession and he seems to be able to continue the path towards a healthy economy. The short run numbers are looking good, with low unemployment and rising salaries. So, for now, we can say that Trump has done a good job of serving the average American worker. To call it the best economy in the history of America goes a bit far, though. No, Trump can be satisfied with what he has accomplished for his economy so far. We will have to see, however, how his decisions turn out in the long run.

Max Kanne 
19-06-2018

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