It’s ‘Maganomics’: Trump’s brash economic strategy is likely to end in crash or crisis | Jonathan Portes

Large tax cuts for the rich, import tariffs, and the competing interests of Republican nationalists and the techno-right is a dangerous combination

What connects Donald Trump’s approach to trade, tax and government spending? Is there a Trumpian theory of economics – Maganomics? Trump, like most politicians, would doubtless reject any claim that he was following a particular ideological blueprint, but then, as John Maynard Keynes said: “Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

It’s certainly difficult to attribute Trump’s policies to the intellectual influence of any one strand in economic thinking. The most obvious frame is the dual one identified by Harvard economist Dani Rodrik, who describes it as a combination of economic nationalism and the techno-right. The former, represented by long-term Trump confidantes Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, wants to rebuild America’s traditional industrial strength behind tariff walls while deporting as many immigrants as possible; the latter, represented of course by Elon Musk, to engineer a great leap forward into an AI-enabled libertarian future.

Jonathan Portes is professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London and a former senior civil servant

Topics

Trump and the end of American soft power

Joseph Nye coined the term for the influence countries exert through attraction. Here he sets out why exclusive nationalism is likely to prove a losing strategy
Financial Times - 4d
The team behind Trump’s economic shock therapy

The US president’s officials are standing by their strategy to remake the world’s largest economy
Financial Times - 11h
‘Nothing like this in American history’: the crisis of Trump’s assault on the rule of law

Even if the supreme court were to resist the president’s onslaught, it has little means to enforce its decisions. When the chief justice of the US supreme court , John Roberts, delivered his ...
The Guardian - 3d
Trump continues tariff tumult amid economic uncertainty

President Trump told reporters there could be some economic disturbance amid tweaks to tariffs at the end of a tumultuous week in the markets. NBC News Correspondents Aaron Gilchrist, Brian Cheung ...
NBC News - 4d
Donald Trump is turning America into a mafia state | Jonathan Freedland

The pattern is inescapable – with just one caveat: organised crime bosses occasionally display more honour. Behold Donald Corleone, the US president who behaves like a mafia boss – but without the ...
The Guardian - 5d
The new economic stars born through crisis

Financial stress is forcing reform and recovery in many overlooked countries
Financial Times - 2d
Trump on if he's expecting recession this year: 'I hate to predict things like that'

President Trump faced a slew of questions about the economic ripple effects of his tariff policy during an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, including whether he worried about a looming ...
The Hill - 3d
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Could Disrupt St. Louis’s Growth Strategy

Shrinking cities have tried to stabilize their populations with foreign-born residents. The strategy was working, until the inauguration.
The New York Times - 1d
CNBC reporter: Trump's tariffs moves 'absolutely insane'

CNBC reporter Steve Liesman blasted President Trump over his trade policies and broader economic strategy in the wake of a struggling stock market this week. "I'm going to say this at the risk of ...
The Hill - 1h