The (Un)Success of Trump's Economic Policy

Abstract

During the Trump administration, the American economy experienced some of the best results sinceWorld War II. Unemployment and poverty were at record lows and the stock market was booming. AtAt the same time, the fiscal deficit and public debt increased, while the harm done to the rules-basedthe international trading system is yet to be seen. Using historical data, the aim of this paper is to provide acomparative overview of some of the hallmarks of Trump’s economic policy taking a critical look ateach one of them: tax cuts, deregulation, and protectionism. While the pre-pandemic U.S. economy wasin some aspects truly impressive, it is difficult to disentangle to what extent this was owed to thepresident’s economic policies and to what extent this was simply due to a positive external environment,which should be the subject of future scientific research.

Keywords

• trumponomics
• economic nationalism
• protectionism
• macroeconomic policy