The Real Picture Behind Trump’s Claims of Being the Greatest President in the History of the U.S.

• Neville Gabby
• 0 comment
• January 12, 2020

President Trump often basks in the glory of boasting about job growth during his presidency, which his supporters readily believe.

Yet time again, economists and analysts point out that economic and job growth did not start during Trump’s presidency. His showing was only a continuance of the progress made by the Obama administration, after pulling the U.S. economy out of the “Great Recession” that lasted between December 2007 and June 2009.

Fortunately, it was President Obama who was at the helm of the government’s efforts to bring the country on the road to recovery. The financial crises of the Great Recession were wrought by toxic mortgages, breakdowns in corporate governance and excessive credit card borrowings. All of which stemmed from poor financial regulations and ineptitude by those handling the Federal Reserves.

Upon Trump’s assumption of office in the year 2017, the country was already well on its way to economic recovery. Yet even if job growth was sustained, the rate of job growth in America has not actually made an impressive change during Trump’s presidency.

Although Trump promised a GDP growth of 4%, his administration managed to post an increase of only 2.9% during the years 2017 and 2018, coming from an average GDP growth rate of 2.07% linked to economic recovery initiatives under Obama.

At the end of 2019, the rate of GDP growth plummeted to 2.00% – 2.01%; even lower than the GDP growth rate before Trumped assumed office.

The drop was largely expected in light of the trade wars that Trump initiated with other countries, particularly vs. EU-member countries and China. Many businesses, particularly the manufacturing sector were largely affected by the tariff increases imposed on raw materials being imported from China and other countries. Apparently, Trump did not have a clear idea of how tariffs actually work, since the burden of paying the costs of importing the raw materials eventually falls on the American end-users or consumers.

The Real Picture about the Economic Growth During Trump’s 3-Year Presidency

A substantial portion of the tariff collected from Chinese goods imported by U.S. manufacturers and resellers, estimated at around tens of billions of dollars were paid by American consumers. Most of the funds collected from the increased tariff collections went to subsidies aimed at supporting U.S. farmers, being the hardest hit by the U.S.-China trade war.

Mainly because China suspended all importation of agricultural products being supplied by American farmers, instead of caving in to Trump’s trade demands and threats.