Steve is on hols this week, so Phil takes a look back at a couple of Debunking Economics podcasts from just before Donald Trump took office. In many ways he stuck to his promises. He tried to cut immigration, he introduced protectionism with hefty tariffs on China and he cut taxes. Now he’s promising more of the same, although Biden might have beaten him to it when it comes to heftier taxes on China’s EV exports.

The first time around Steve suggested some of Trump’s thinking was right, although perhaps for the wrong reasons. Tax cuts to boost spending seems like a good idea, but he directed it at high income earners in the false belief that they would use this money to invest in jobs to grow the economy. Instead, tax receipts fell and the new jobs didn’t materialise.

He is also hell bent on making America self-sufficient for energy. America’s domestic oil production has been steadily increasing since 2016. Can we expect this to accelerate, given he has repeatedly declared climate change is a hoax, and the likely funding support he is receiving from the fossil fuel industry?

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