ifo Schnelldienst 01/2020: The US Before the Election Campaign

The US Before the Election Campaign: The Traces of Donald Trump in Business and Politics

On November 3, 2020, it will be decided whether Donald Trump will be elected US President for a second time. In line with his rigorously pursued “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, diplomatic conventions have been broken and decades-old international treaties have been declared null and void. A new paradigm also applies to trade policy: Trump has threatened and introduced special tariffs, particularly on imports from China and the EU, in order to reduce the US current account deficit. His 2017 tax reform brought massive relief for domestic companies. What long-term effects have three years of “America First” policy had on the world? How has the US tax reform affected international tax competition? What are the consequences of the trade dispute? What does Trump’s policy mean for the cohesion of the Western alliance? And is the US becoming a factor of uncertainty for global economic and geopolitical development?

With contributions from:

• Henning Vöpel: Trump’s World – A Stocktaking
• Harm Bandholz: Did He Make America Great Again?
• Gabriel Felbermayr: The Americans and Globalization
• Christoph Spengel: Consequences of the US Tax Reform 2018 and the EU and OECD Anti-Abuse Regulations for Tax Competition in Europe
• Jost Heckemeyer: How Trump’s Tax Cuts Put Europe Under Pressure
• Martin Mosler and Niklas Potrafke: International Relations under Donald Trump – Evidence on Voting Behavior between the United States and the West in the UN General Assembly
• Henrik Müller: Donald Trump as a Factor of Economic Uncertainty