Now that he’s won the office, where’s his agenda going to take him?
So! Donald Trump is gonna be the next president of the United States.
I’ll be honest – I didn’t see that coming! It would appear most everyone didn’t see that coming, and the Trump team itself didn’t see it coming until very late. It’s got to be one of the biggest political upsets in recent American history.
So now that he’s won … what’s he gonna do? And who’s gonna be his bud in Congress?
His first 100 days – based upon what he’s said on the campaign trail – are very ambitious, and there’s obviously a lot on the table.
Word is, for instance, Trump will make good on his plans to name the Chinese government a currency manipulator, something the Obama administration has declined to do for years.
If he goes after China on currency, Trump might find himself talking to the incoming leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer. Schumer has pursued action on currency for a long time.
And while it’s certainly debatable if China is manipulating its currency right now, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has repeatedly called for action on this issue. For instance, AAM was calling to insert a rule on currency into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), back when Congress was voting on Trade Promotion Authority.
… Which brings up another issue: What’s going to happen on the TPP? Trump has been pretty clear that he’s not a fan. The Obama White House spent years – years! – negotiating this complex (and contentious) agreement. The official AAM line isn’t a wholesale rejection – just make sure that a rule deterring currency manipulation was included in the contract. Doing so would have been a precedent-setting measure to keep governments from using currency as a trade weapon.
Is Trump gonna just scrap the whole agreement? He says so. Wonky trade types certainly think so. What better deal will he put in place?
And what about infrastructure spending?
Yes, what about infrastructure? On the campaign trail, Trump proposed massive spending projects that would include user fees (tolls) andpublic-private partnerships to build and repair bridges, tunnels, roads, and railways. He said it’d be something like $1 trillion in new spending.
How is that gonna get past Congress when its most likely that the House will be governed by this guy? And the Senate is governed by this guy?
There are a million questions about the coming Trump administration, and because Trump is notoriously short on specifics, there are few answers.
Just like you, we’ll be watching to see how plans for a Donald Trump presidency unfold.