President Trump sounds smart when he comes up with a fresh plan to retire $15 trillion national debt.

Peter Prince

2018-08-07 07:33:00 Tue ET

President Trump sounds smart when he comes up with a fresh plan to retire $15 trillion national debt. This plan entails taxing American consumers and producers when they buy goods and services from countries subject to his tariffs. The taxes involve steel and aluminum taxes on western allies such as Canada, Europe, and Mexico as well as another 25% tariffs on $200 billion Chinese imports.

However, math seems to be on the other side of this healthy trade debate.

For the fiscal year 2018, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office projects the federal budget deficit to be $800 billion. The Office of Management and Budget projects an even higher deficit of $1 trillion in 2019. In other words, it is difficult for the Trump administration to remain fiscally neutral due to large infrastructure expenditures, tax cuts, trade barriers, and capital investment restrictions. The new Trump tariffs may bring in $100 billion in light of stable macroeconomic demand for imports from Canada, China, Europe, and Mexico.

In this negative light, the Trump administration may not be able to curtail the current budget deficit. In order for the Trump administration to balance the U.S. budget, it would require imposing 40% tariffs on almost all $2 trillion imports. The American dream of total national debt elimination thus seems remote.

In the alternative positive light, it is still plausible for the Trump administration to attain fiscal neutrality in the medium term. If the Trump administration successfully boosts 2.5% real GDP economic growth to 3% or above by 2020, the annual U.S. fiscal revenue may increase from $4.5 trillion to $5.4 trillion. The additional $900 billion fiscal intake can then offset the current U.S. budget deficit. In other words, these pro forma calculations suggest that whether Trump can keep his promise to retire national debt depends on medium-term real GDP economic revival.

Overall, 3%+ real GDP economic growth determines whether President Trump can fulfill his economic MAGA mantra.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Elon Musk envisions a bold fantastic future with his professional trifecta of lean enterprises SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla.

Joseph Corr

2020-04-10 11:33:00 Friday ET

Elon Musk envisions a bold fantastic future with his professional trifecta of lean enterprises SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla.

Elon Musk envisions a bold fantastic future with his professional trifecta of lean startup enterprises SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla. Ashlee Vance (2015)

+See More

Central banks in India, Thailand, and New Zealand lower their interest rates in response to the Federal Reserve rate cut.

Daisy Harvey

2019-09-11 09:31:00 Wednesday ET

Central banks in India, Thailand, and New Zealand lower their interest rates in response to the Federal Reserve rate cut.

Central banks in India, Thailand, and New Zealand lower their interest rates in a defensive response to the Federal Reserve recent rate cut. The central ban

+See More

Presidents Trump and Xi agree on an interim trade truce at the G20 summit in Argentina.

Apple Boston

2018-12-09 08:44:00 Sunday ET

Presidents Trump and Xi agree on an interim trade truce at the G20 summit in Argentina.

President Trump meets with Chinese President Xi again at the G20 summit in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in late-November 2018. President Donald Trum

+See More

Smart firms and customers connect the continuous flow of lean production to the lean consumption of cost-effective minimum viable products.

Olivia London

2020-07-26 15:29:00 Sunday ET

Smart firms and customers connect the continuous flow of lean production to the lean consumption of cost-effective minimum viable products.

Firms and customers create value and wealth together by joining the continual flow of small batches of lean production to the lean consumption of cost-effec

+See More

The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018.

John Fourier

2018-06-01 07:30:00 Friday ET

The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018.

The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018. The Congressional Budget Office predict

+See More

The lean CEO encourages iterative continuous improvements and collaborative teams to innovate around core value streams.

Monica McNeil

2020-07-12 08:30:00 Sunday ET

The lean CEO encourages iterative continuous improvements and collaborative teams to innovate around core value streams.

The lean CEO encourages iterative continuous improvements and collaborative teams to innovate around core value streams. Jacob Stoller (2015)  

+See More