Trumpism as nationalist neoliberalism. A critical enquiry into Donald Trump’s political economy

Abstract

The article provides a critique of Trump administration political economy. The argument of the paper is that Trumpism can be conceived as a combination of an economic-nationalist vision of international trade relations and a strengthening of neoliberal macroeconomic policy at home. More specifically, while the global projection of the new US administration follows a ‘zero-sum game’ and conflictual vision of the international trade, with respect to the domestic arena the budget documents for 2018 and beyond demonstrate a strong commitment in favor of businesses and top incomes, e.g. in terms of welfare cuts, labor policy and tax reform. At the same time, while social expenditures decreased, the spending for defense programs increases. The article argues that Trumpism represents a further evolution of neoliberalism in terms of fiercer neoliberalizing policies combined with elements of economic nationalism – thus, Trumpism as nationalist neoliberalism.

Keywords

• Trumpism
• Neoliberal nationalism
• Militarism
• Neo-mercantilism
• Taxation.