Donald John Trump, a Republican, presided over the country as the 45th president from 2017 until 2021. To win over those who believed that the nation had declined in status, Trump ran his 2016 campaign with the slogan "Make America Great Again." Economic nationalism was strongly backed by Donald Trump. Learn more about the effects of President Trump's economic initiatives on the American economy.
COVID-19 Pandemic
On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading. Four stimulus laws he enacted gave agencies, companies, and people struggling with the crisis more than $2 trillion. To discover and deploy safe vaccines and treatments in record time, Trump launched "Operation Warp Speed." He also used the Defense Production Act to enlist the help of American businesses to make 187,000 ventilators. The COVID-19 Economic Relief Act, which offers financial support to businesses, families, workers, and industries, was enacted by President Trump in December 2020.Changing Climate
With the declaration that the United States would leave the Paris Agreement on climate change in June 2017, Trump's "America First" energy strategy got its start. President Trump repealed President Obama's Climate Action Plan in 2017 and gave agency chiefs the authority to evaluate regulations and provide information on barriers to domestic energy development. As a result, the procedure for approving oil drilling on public property was altered, increasing the approval rate by 36%. The Affordable Clean Energy rule, which the Trump administration replaced the Clean Power Plan with in June 2019, gives states more authority to enact restrictions and choose the most effective ways to cut emissions from operating coal-fired power plants.Trade
Trump's trade policies are aimed at closing the trade deficit in the United States. His first move was the U.S. withdrawal from further Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (TPP). The largest trade pact in history was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was created when the Trump administration renegotiated NAFTA with Canada and Mexico (USMCA). The biggest modification to NAFTA was the requirement that automakers produce additional parts within the USMCA trade region. To shield American companies from international competition, Trump's trade policy supported protectionism and mercantilism. Iran's noncompliance led to President Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Iran and world powers agreed to a deal in 2015 to lift sanctions on its oil exports in exchange for a scaling back of the nation's nuclear program. The Trump administration announced a 25% tax on steel and a 10% duty on imports of aluminum in March 2018. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned that if impacted nations responded with tariffs of their own, U.S. auto output would fall by 4% and 624,000 American jobs would be lost. In an effort to reduce the trade deficit and encourage Americans to purchase more domestic goods, President Trump imposed trade restrictions on China On a total of $250 billion in Chinese imports, the administration slapped three penalties. The average household would pay $419 more annually as a result of these tariffs, according to the Federal Reserve (the Fed). A fourth tariff was levied by President Trump in 2019. On $200 billion worth of products, he increased tariffs to 25%. 12. According to the Fed, the average household will pay $831 more per year as a result of this tariff and previous 2018 levies. China responded by imposing duties on $110 billion worth of American goods. President Trump announced a trade agreement between the United States and China in December 2019. In the Phase One trade agreement, the United States committed to reducing tariffs on selected items by half, while China agreed to increase imports of American goods by $200 billion a year. China did not fulfill the agreed-upon trade volumes for the entire year of 2020.Medical Care
Trump's health care plans prioritize fixing medical problems and bringing down prescription prices. The Affordability and Patient Protection Act (ACA) During his campaign, Trump pledged to replace Obamacare, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), with something new. Despite his lack of success, Trump initiated a number of measures that altered the law. The Affordable Care Act's (ACA) tax penalties for people without health insurance were eliminated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). President Trump's plans to cut Medicaid spending by allowing states to set job requirements and limit the number of people eligible for the program. Additionally, they offered incentives for rising recipient copayments and other patient expenses as well as for decreasing program benefits.Drug Costs
In an effort to minimize prescription costs, President Trump signed an executive order in 2020 mandating that hospitals pass on any discounts they receive on epinephrine and insulin to their patients. A month's worth of insulin was offered for a $35 cost through participating and improved Medicare Part D plans. The order further mandated that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) refrain from paying more than the most favorable national price when acquiring prescription drugs for Medicare Parts B and D.The United States National Debt
In fewer than four years, the national debt rose by over 36%. It will cross $27 trillion in October 2020. 19. Although the debt more than tripled in 2020, the main causes were the spread of COVID-19 and the laws and economic stimulus programs that followed. No matter who is in power, the national debt is expected to keep growing as it has since the 1980s. It is anticipated that debt will increase to levels unseen since World War II. Higher mandated spending on Social Security and Medicare, as well as increased discretionary military spending, were major contributors to the ongoing increase in debt during President Trump's term.Immigration
Reducing legal immigration and ending illegal immigration were the main goals of Trump's immigration plans. By making the application procedure challenging, he sought to finish the wall along the border with Mexico and to reduce the number of refugees and asylum seekers.Immigration lawful
The Trump administration tightened requirements for those seeking legal immigration between 2017 and 2020, limiting approvals for certain categories of refugees, for example. Additionally, he increased the authority of federal and state agencies to track immigrants, look into violations, and enforce immigration laws. Trump's policies gave the government the freedom to establish detention facilities for immigrants who entered the country illegally. Before it was suspended in response to public uproar, President Trump implemented a zero-tolerance policy in 2018 that caused the separation of undocumented children from their parents. As a result of Trump's policy, fewer immigration visas were issued between 2016 and 2019—down from 617,752 to 462,422.Border Fence
Trump's immigration plan included building a wall along the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border, which was a key component. Even though the wall's construction was not completed, Trump added 450 more miles to it before leaving office.Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The Trump administration tightened the criteria for the refugee screening procedure in 2018. The number of refugees resettled that year was the lowest since 1980 at 22,491. Asylum seekers were instructed to remain in Mexico as they awaited the start of their hearings under the asylum process. President Trump gave the Secretary of State permission to admit 30,000 refugees to the United States for the 2019 fiscal year. 29,916 refugees from Africa, East Asia, Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Near East, and South Asia were accepted at the end of the year. Because of the poor conditions in some Latin American nations, President Trump has a difficult time preventing immigration. Due to a lack of food in their own countries, half the immigrants from Central America emigrated.Jobs
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged to create 25 million jobs. If successful, it would have resulted in the creation of more jobs than any other president. President Trump designed the Rebuild America plan to generate jobs, but lawmakers blocked it. It claimed to shorten the permission application process by eight years by outlining $200 billion in spending spread over ten years. Between 2017 and 2019, Trump generated 6.6 million new jobs. That was prior to the recession brought on by the 2020 pandemic, which cost the economy 20.5 million jobs in just April of that year. By the end of 2020, the unemployment rate had fallen to 6.7 percent. It was more than double the unemployment rate prior to the pandemic but was much lower than the peak of 14.8% during the pandemic.