ABSTRACT
This chapter recounts the populist “America First” platform that propelled President Donald J. Trump into office. It examines his tax cuts and the economic growth that occurred in his first three years in office. Several of Trumps’ many political fights over economic and financial issues are reviewed, including investigations of his personal finances and political fights over pipeline construction and oil and gas drilling. This chapter will track President Trump’s trade war with China and his efforts to obtain better treatment of US exports through the application of onerous tariffs against countries around the world. It shows how Trump scuttled the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and neutralized the World Trade Organization. It tells how he renegotiated the NAFTA trade agreement with Mexico and Canada and revised trade agreements with other countries, including South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and Cuba. More trade battles are also outlined, including a row with European Union countries over a digital services tax that targeted some of the US’s largest tech companies.
