Trump Agenda Won’t Hurt Global Economy as Much Next Year as in 2026
Promised overhaul of conventional wisdom on trade, debt and security won’t happen overnight.
Donald Trump won a second term in the White House by promising a bonfire of the verities—the truths that wonks in economic and foreign policy circles hold sacred. Free trade is out, protectionism is in. Worrying about the debt is out, tax cuts are in. The US security guarantee is out, do-it-yourself defense is in.
The established order Trump wants to overturn hasn’t covered itself in glory. Under President Joe Biden, inflation in the US soared close to 10%, partly as a result of overdone fiscal stimulus. Decades of free-trade orthodoxy have frayed the blue collars of US factory workers. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza have called into question Washington’s continued leadership in world affairs.