The Benefits of Trump: Economic Policies

Since his induction into the White House in 2016, President Donald Trump has faced backlash for his extreme decisions in economic foreign policy. His administration has been relentlessly criticized for its protectionist actions, demanding of payment from countries under our military protection and initiation of trade wars. Clearly, his actions have sparked enormous controversy—but maybe they’re not so bad.

Although his isolationist economic policy is unconventional, it may be just what we need. Since his inauguration, Trump has initiated tactics to boost the United States’ economy, fueling our consumer-driven market with corporate tax breaks and the creation of four million new jobs through tariffs. His actions have pushed the stock market to its highest point in history; in just the 1.5 years since his election, the S&P 500 Index has risen an astounding 22 percent, and nearly $10 trillion have been added to the nation in wealth. This in itself has been quite a feat amid a resurgence in high federal interest rates, but Trump has gone a step further—using this surging economy as a powerful negotiation tool.

With the US economy at one of its highest points in history, there is a widespread international demand to have access to our consumers. Instead of neglecting this heavy demand for trade deals with the United States like many past presidents, Trump has intensified this demand by sparking this economic boom and begun to use it as a leveraging tool against our top competitors.

The most prominent competitor that he has decided to challenge with this tool is China, who has long cheated the United States with currency manipulation and labor laws to boost its own economy to a dangerously high point. China’s economic prosperity has heavily relied on US consumers to reach its current point. It exports $505 billion worth of goods to our nation every year, while it only imports $129 billion worth of goods from the US. This means that it has been gaining much more economically from its trade deal with the US than the US has, and it has done so while employing unethical trade practices that have been detrimental to our own economy.

Trump has finally decided to put an end to this cheating and trade disparity by placing economic sanctions and tariffs on China. These ultimately reduce the amount of goods China exports to the United States significantly, which has aided in diminishing their threatening economic boom and in punishing them for unethical practices that have gone on far too long. At the same time, it has encouraged increased productivity in our local economy, creating new jobs and promoting goods manufactured in the United States.

Although China has responded with its own sanctions and tariffs on the US, they have not nearly had as much of an impact on our nation because of the trade deficit. Therefore, the benefits of Trump’s economic foreign policy with regards to China have clearly outweighed the cons. This is just one example of how Donald Trump’s economic foreign policy of leveraging our in-demand consumer base has progressed our nation and its economic position in the world.