US economic woes as big a concern as Donald Trump’s cryptic foreign policy plans
Donald Trump’s ideas on stimulating growth won’t solve the underlying problems. That’s as worrying as his murky foreign-policy intentions, writes Ian Bremmer
As world leaders wonder whether Donald Trump will launch trade wars on China and Mexico, undermine Nato and aggressively antagonise much of the Muslim world, it has become increasingly clear that the poor state of the US economy should concern outsiders almost as much as the new president’s ill-defined foreign policy plans. The US is still home to the world’s largest consumer market, and Donald Trump is likely to stimulate growth. But that won’t solve the economy’s underlying issues, and that’s a problem for the entire global economy. The headlines tell a misleading story. US stock markets continue to scale record heights. Trump’s speech at Congress last week sent stocks soaring even higher on hopes that a plan to sharply reduce corporate taxes and spend $1-trillion to upgrade US infrastructure will jump-start US growth. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett recently predicted more boom to come, and backed his opinion with new investment. He’s right that US equities have room to run, ...
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