Replies

You are talking short-hand.

Trade protectionism: Biden is for “re-shoring.” His Chips Act is protectionist. Biden hasn’t approved any pro-trade initiative. Trump renewed NAFTA (renamed USMCA), got FTAs approved for South Korea and Japan, finagled a trade deal with China involving that country buying a lot of US farm production, and tried (as Obama had tried before him) to negotiate a US-EU trade agreement. When you look at the facts, Trump is much better on trade than Biden.

It’s probably inevitable that any Republican will be better on trade than any Democrat, because our Senators and Congressmen are from the rural parts of the country, and agriculture is and has always been a strong export. Our concern shouldn’t be imports, but the balance of trade and services, as well as the security of trade routes.

(While I’m on the subject of trade, I’d like to point out that Trump sees economics as tied-into geopolitics. During his first administration, he successfully used trade to promote world peace. I think Trump will be able to end the war in Ukraine in large part through economics.)

Lowering taxes and a “pro-working class tax structure” - sounds good, but we’d like to know how spending and taxes add up. That is, the impact on the budget. As a general rule, Republicans have favored flattening the tax structure (widening the base, closing loopholes, etc., and lowering the rates). This approach was reflected in Trump’s tax cuts in his first administration; and, it’s easy to see how his promises thus far during the campaign, e.g., to not tax tips, would fit into a totality.

Energy policy - perhaps you know this, but Trump’s approach involves more than “opening up” domestic energy production and construction of energy infrastructure. It also involves joining the Trillion Tree March. So, instead of getting to net zero by trying to reduce emissions, it is to get to net zero by offsets, primarily growing trees. With the matter of net zero settled by off-sets, we would be free to produce and consume fossil fuel or any source of energy, whether or not the alarmists are correct. Trump’s policy is very strategic.