Trumpism

In 2016 Donald J. Trump was elected as the President of the United States. During his political career Trump has demonstrated a unique methodology of running a country, which current literature has dubbed Trumpism. Trumpism is essentially an alternative version of protectionism, served hand-in-hand with populism and the revival of nationalism. This is a shift from the typical US belief system, which largely supports free-market globalization and neoliberalism. Trump’s electoral promise was to “Make America Great Again” although specifics were hardly discussed; throughout his term Trump has attempted to do so by implementing questionable policies and tactics. At home, these tactics aimed to reduce immigration while improving domestic production. Globally, Trump has tried to reposition the United States of America as power player once again.

Trumpism in Action:

Foreign Policy

Trump’s approach to foreign policy incorporates protectionist strategies on multiple levels. Overhauling foreign immigration policy within the United States was one of Trump’s major point’s in his campaign, and at times Trump was blatantly racist. Voters understood that voting for Trump meant supporting an anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim policy, and he was quick to act on executing this. Trump immediately signed an executive order suspending immigration from many predominately Muslim countries, then updated it to restrict the entry of multiple other countries. Perhaps the epitome of Trumpism is characterized by The Wall. One of the most iconic promises during the campaign was that Donald Trump would build a wall to keep unregistered American Immigrants out. The reality is more of a revamped border wall, due to fiscal limitations, nonetheless the goal is the same and in his protectionist approach Trump has seemingly taken measures literally. (Tavernise 2019)

           After closing off The United States of America to the outside world, Trump shifted his focus to bringing outsourced production back to the United States of America. Trump was willing to sever political ties in order to gain the upper hand in trade. One response was the threat of terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), unless beneficial terms were renegotiated. After some period of uncertainty, these terms were finalized in a new agreement called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA (Amadeo 2019). The new agreement offers some benefits, but on Trump’s terms, which strong-armed Canada and Mexico to appeal to United States of America’s needs. Among the demands was greater U.S. access to Canada’s dairy market. (Kirby 2020).

While much of Trump’s foreign policy concerns itself with reaffirming the United States of America as being in a global position of power, Trumpism is also based in insecurity. The greatest threat apparent to Trump seems to be China, and in response Trump has waged economic warfare with them. The relatively recent uprising of China to become a major politico-economic player has marked the United States of America with uncertainty. Their position of being the most-favoured nation is no longer a given (Rodrik 2018). In an attempt to weaken China and boast the United States, Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods which are brought to the country. Ironically, this policy may actually hurt the U.S. more than it affects China. Common belief is that the foreign country bears the burden of tariffs; reality is that the cost is typically split. This is due to the economic principles at play, but when China is the sole producer or the preferred producer U.S. citizens are most likely to bear the full burden of tariffs. In some cases, China may have to lower their price to stay competitive – the social implications may decrease the quality of working conditions among other concerns. (Lee 2019)

Health, Wellbeing, and Equality

Trumpism focuses largely on economics and power, which often results in neglect or other adverse repercussions for members of the general public. Shortly after being elected Trump began working to undo Obamacare. While his efforts have not been fully successful, in true Trump fashion the president has continued to try and force his way and is making progress. The aim to replace the current system with a more conservative plan will surely leave many low income citizens and families at risk. (Zurcher 2018)

Trump has also been stacking the judicial system, a strategic move which may give him greater influence and protection in the future. During his presidency Trump has successfully planted 12 circuit court judges and 6 district court judges… there are 47 additional nominees that have yet to be approved. If many of them are approved, this move would cement a conservative bias for the foreseeable future of the United States of America’s judicial system. (Zurcher 2018)

Finally, Trump has continuously demonstrated almost fascist behavior when things do not go his way. In different instances Trump fired entire teams or people who did not agree with him, and demonstrated blatant racism and sexism throughout his term and especially during the recent Black Lives Matter Protests.

Environmental

           While Trump may at times speak without being fully educated on matters, when it comes to climate change Trump seems to be blatantly ignoring the scientific and factual knowledge presented to him. This may have negative repercussions for years to come, as people will cite Trump and his sources as alleged proof that climate change is a nonissue. Tabloids sparked controversy as they followed Donald Trump alleging that climate change is “fake news”. As a direct result, and likely in an effort to reduce operation costs and reinforce American industry, Trump began a series of environmental rollbacks. Perhaps most notably was the United States of America’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Further environmental justice issues involved Trump’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which was predicted to account for an additional 1,400 premature deaths each year, as well as $30 billion in health damages. Nonetheless Trumpism’s focus on supporting industry led to some shady justifications and statistics to encourage the continued support of the coal industry. Trumpism seems to blindly support industries which were appealing in old Uncle Sam’s days, regardless of the consequences. More recently, between 2019 and 2020, Trump continued the trend by proposing the United States lower their standards for addressing methane leaks and reduce the emission targets for new vehicles. (Clevenger and Herbert 2020)

Going Forward

With the election of Trump, the United States of America saw an explosion of vocal racism, oppression, and class warfare. Trump and his political approach in Trumpism made people feel comfortable voicing discriminatory opinions and sparked a strong response which has had a lasting effect. Going forward, the Trumpism approach encourages nationalistic and racist tactics which pose a threat to the global wellbeing of many vulnerable parties.

Works Cited

Amadeo, Kimberly. “6 Ways Trump Changed NAFTA.” The Balance, The Balance, 23 Sept. 2019, https://www.thebalance.com/donald-trump-nafta-4111368.

Clevenger, Tyler, and Matt Herbert. “7 Ways the Trump Administration Is Harming the Climate.” World Resources Institute, 11 May 2020, www.wri.org/blog/2020/04/7-ways-trump-administration-harming-climate.

Kirby, Jen. “USMCA, Trump's New NAFTA Deal, Explained in 600 Words.” Vox, Vox, 3 Oct. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17930092/usmca-mexico-nafta-trump-trade-deal-explained.

Lee, Yen Nee. “Is China Really Paying for Trump's Tariffs? It Isn't so Straightforward.” CNBC, CNBC, 3 June 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/us-china-trade-war-who-pays-for-donald-trumps-tariffs.html.

Rodrik, D. (2018). Populism and the economics of globalization. Journal of International Business Policy, 1(1-2), 12-33. doi:10.1057/s42214-018-0001-4

Tavernise, Sabrina. “Immigrant Population Growth in the U.S. Slows to a Trickle.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/us/census-immigration.html.

Zurcher, Anthony. “Ten Ways Trump Has Changed America.” BBC News, BBC, 12 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42653793.