One year on, Trump style sows uncertainty
He inherited a recovering US economy, and the first 12 months could have been worse, but worsening trade tension with China is not a good start to a midterm election year
Donald Trump has ridden the luck of the economic cycle to claim credit for a high stock market and low unemployment. He inherited an economy in full recovery mode from a predecessor who inherited a global financial crisis. But after just one year in office his good fortune is not reflected in appraisals as he marks his first anniversary today.
There are not many who do not project abiding unease about his erratic, divisive, confrontational behaviour and unpresidential style, or even question afresh his fitness for office after he described some developing countries as “s***holes”.
Amid tweet-fuelled controversy over everything from climate change to race relations, and brinkmanship with North Korea, it is Trump’s flip-flopping personal management of the US relationship with China that ultimately causes the most jitters.
A phone call to Trump this week from President Xi Jinping reflected that, as Washington hawks talked of tough action over the trade deficit, including punitive tariffs and sanctions that could lead to a trade war.