One of the strongest arguments behind former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is the economic record from his first term in office. Inflation and unemployment were low, economic growth was solid, and many people remember his presidency, at least before COVID-19, fondly as a result. However, Trump’s recent policy evolutions are radically undercutting this case for his reelection.
Except for his trade restrictions, which were still somewhat narrow in the grand scheme of the U.S. economy, Trump’s first-term economic policies were classically conservative: tax cuts, deregulation, and other pro-growth, free market reforms. But the former president is now straying from this approach with his proposals, meaning he can’t guarantee the same results.
For instance, Trump has proposed taking his somewhat narrow trade restrictions, mainly targeting China, and blowing them up into an all-out trade war with the entire world. He has proposed a 10% or even 20% flat tariff, aka tax, on all imported goods, even from allies and neighbors. Not only would this surely prompt retaliation, but it would also cost Americans thousands of dollars in increased costs every year via higher consumer prices, something most families can’t afford after years of inflation under President Joe Biden.
Trump has backed similar policies that undercut the traditional free market approach. For example, when recently asked about high grocery prices under Biden, Trump suggested that the United States should lower prices by reducing the amount of food we’re letting into our country from overseas companies. Unfortunately, that would have the opposite effect: By decreasing supply, it would almost certainly push grocery prices even higher.
In yet another break with free market principles, Trump just this week proposed a government cap on interest rates that credit card companies can charge. This, again, might sound nice at first glance, but like most government micromanaging of our economy, it would backfire and hurt the people it’s supposed to help.
Rather than offer people with bad credit a lower rate, companies will simply decline to extend credit to them at all, and many desperate people may end up pushed to sketchy payday loaners or even under-the-table loan sharks and ultimately pay even more in interest. (This isn’t speculation. Illinois tried a similar policy and saw this kind of unintentional result.)
These are just a few examples, but more broadly, Trump is running on a platform that’s utterly detached from traditional fiscal conservatism. The Wharton School of Business estimates that Trump’s overall agenda would add $4.1 trillion to $5.8 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, several trillion more than Vice President Kamala Harris’s plans would.
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Somewhere, former President Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave.
Trump desperately needs to get his economic agenda back on track. Right now, if people think they are voting for a return to 2019’s relative prosperity by backing the former president, they are sorely mistaken.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is an independent journalist, YouTuber, and co-founder of BASEDPolitics.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
