Trump’s command economy
President Donald Trump is trying to force down drug prices to specific levels. He has directed tariff rates on virtually every country. He declared that the Federal Reserve “must” lower interest rates. He takes a personal interest in the fate of individual companies like TikTok. He appears frequently with CEOs to tout investment deals, including many that were hatched before his presidency.
And in his just-concluded Middle East trip, Trump pitched business leaders on doing business in America for one big reason: his personal involvement in the U.S. economy. “There’s no better place to make a future or make a fortune — to do anything, frankly — than what we have in the United States of America under a certain president, Donald J. Trump,” he said. “I have the right attitude.”
In the opening months of his second term, Trump has taken an unusually direct and high-profile role in attempting to manage the sprawling American economy — an approach that could bring him enormous benefits if it thrives or danger if it stumbles. It’s a departure from decades of Republican orthodoxy and arguably from Trump’s own history; during the 2024 campaign, he called Democrat Kamala Harris a communist and a Marxist because her vow to tackle price gouging could have led to price controls.
As president, Trump is not hesitating to issue dramatic economic proclamations or edicts. “In this administration, policy decisions seem to be made only based on the president’s personal views, not after systemic analysis,” said Douglas Elmendorf, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a top economic official under President Bill Clinton.
“The president of our country is not the CEO of our businesses,” Elmendorf said. “I think this president likes the idea of being the CEO of businesses, but that’s not the role of the president. They should be setting broad polices, not intervening for particular companies.”
The White House said Trump’s personal intervention is preferable to letting lower-level officials run the show.
“After four years of the Joe Biden disaster, over 77 million Americans rejected having anonymous bureaucrats who call themselves ‘the experts’ run our country,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “They instead voted for one man with one vision who isn’t beholden to special interests: President Donald J. Trump.” [Continue reading…]