The Invisible Hand of Donald Trump
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2017
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump's surprise elevation to the office of president last November stunned the world and electrified the financial markets. Promises to cut red tape, bring huge infrastructure projects to life, and sort out the byzantine American tax system propelled Wall Street to record highs. It's called the Trump Bump. Yet Trump's protectionist rhetoric simultaneously created fears of a global trade war.
Martin Wolf, Chief Economic Commentator of the Financial Times, reflects on what Trump has accomplished in economic terms in the year since the election heard round the world. Financial systems are recovering from the calamities of the last decade, but that improvement was well under way before Trump took the helm of the world's largest economy. New proposals from the administration are stalled for lack of clarity, infirmity of purpose and political disarray. This doesn't mean that President Trump's decisions on everything from trade tariffs to the Federal Reserve will not send ripples around the globe in the years ahead. He's vowed to deliver tax reform, build a wall, bring jobs home and tear up trade treaties. Will these promises still be delivered? If they are, what might follow?
Producer: Sandra Kanthal.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this podcast, not analysis exactly, but a free extra. |
| 0:42.0 | There's been a lot of noise about what Donald Trump tweets, but |
| 0:45.8 | perhaps what really matters is what his policies mean for the economy of the United States |
| 0:50.7 | and for the rest of us. Now Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator of the Financial |
| 0:56.1 | Times, goes in search of the invisible hand of Donald Trump. On this day, last November, Americans went to the polls to elect their 45th president. |
| 1:12.4 | It is my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to you the president-elect of the United States. |
| 1:22.0 | And the world looked on with shock and amazement. elect of the United States. |
| 1:22.6 | And the world looked on with shock and amazement at the result. |
| 1:26.6 | Donald Trump. |
| 1:30.6 | On the campaign trail, Donald Trump made many promises, some you're familiar with. |
| 1:36.0 | We're going to build a wall. It's going to be built. |
| 1:40.0 | It's not even, believe it or not, it's not even a difficult thing to do. |
| 1:45.0 | And some may have escaped your notice. |
| 1:49.0 | I believe it's time to establish a national goal of reaching 4% economic growth. |
| 1:55.0 | You could use the term America first as a guiding philosophy of Trump's first year economic agenda |
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