Make America Great Again: Impact on International Trade

This article examines the impact of the 'Make America Great Again' slogan on international trade and the economic policies of the Trump administration. It discusses the protectionist mechanisms implemented by the administration and the effects on global trade. The article also compares these policies to Reaganomics and analyzes the implications for domestic industries and international trade volume.

International Economics
Students Name
Institution

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Introduction
Undoubtedly, the slogan “Make America Great Again” which is sometimes abbreviated
as (MAGA) needs no introduction among the American population. Particularly, “Make”
implies empowerment, “America “signifies being part of something bigger than self while”
Great “denotes powerful while “Again" denotes some form of restoration of the American glory.
Owing to that fact that three American presidential candidates; Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and
Donald Trump used the slogan during their respective political campaigns years (Mukherjee,
2018). Specifically, Reagan did use the phrase during the 1980 campaign for the presidency
whereas Clinton used it during the 1992 campaign for the presidency (Chasmer, 2016). Equally,
Donald Trump used the slogan during his 2016 presidential political campaigns to inspire
patirotism or race malice(Parker,2019). Currently, the trump administration policies seems to
protect American industries at the possible expense of international trade.
Noteworthy, Reagan s approach to MAGA was characterized by supply-side based
economic policy implementation hence the term ‘Reaganomics’ .Basically, the pillars of
“Reaganomics “ were used to reduce government expenditure, taxation, regulation, and control
inflationary pressures in the country at the time (Moore,2016). Reagan’s use of the slogan was to
inspire patriotism at a time when the United States economy was facing stagflation as one of its
paramount economic challenges. Reagan’s idea of making America great was illustrated by
reduced government expenditure, increased income due to reduced taxation, and reduced
government regulation on the various sectors of the economy. For Bill Clinton, the slogan was
not the focus of his presidential campaign unlike for Reagan and Trump political campaigns. To
Clinton, the slogan was more of a supporting mantra than an actual campaign focus.In addition
to referring to the slogan during his campaign, Bill made reference to the slogan in support of

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Hillary Clinton during her presidential campaign period through an advertised commercial
segment (Chasmar, 2016).
Trump on Making America Great Again
Noteworthy, the Trump administration has introduced protectionist mechanisms which have
made an impact on globalized trade. According to DHL Global connectedness index, global
trade has slowed down since the year 2015(Ghemawat, 2017). Undoubtedly the withdrawal of
the Americans from open market regional and international economic partnership blocs has
discouraged free markets among countries while promoting the growth of local industries. Also,
the high tax tariffs on imports into the United States economy discourages international trade due
to trade barriers. Significantly, the Trump administration withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific
partnership will hamper international trade due to the fact that the Americans will face trade
barriers whilst transacting with the Pacific countries (Firey, 2018). Usually, international trade
thrives on open markets as opposed to protectionist mechanisms. The fact that higher taxes will
be imposed on imports to the United States economy might discourage it’s former trading
partners from continued trade due to high importation tariffs hence discouraging international
trade volume.
Basically, the Trump administration seeks to increase personal income by reducing the
income tax bracket on personal and corporate ventures through a tax reduction tariff similar to
Reaganomics. In addition, the Trump administration has discouraged global trade due to the
implementation of trade barriers such as high tariffs on importation of goods into the United
States economy. In addition, pulling out of Tariff free international and regional pacts has
implemented trade barriers between the United States economy and its trading partners. In a way,
the Reagan administration and the Donald Trump administration has similar economic policies

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stemming from the desire to improve the economic livelihood of its citizens as opposed to
promoting globalized exchange of goods and services .Essentially, the slogan has promoted the
growth of domestic industries at the cost of international trade due to the enactment of higher
importation tariffs. Overall, reduced income taxation encourages growth of domestic industries
thus growing the American economy whereas high import tariffs discourage importation of
goods and services.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the phrase “Make America Great Again” has been interpreted for different
reasons. Overall, the slogan dictated the type of economic policies to which the three presidents
implemented during their tenure in office. Specifically, Reagan inspired patriotism through the
slogan which also influenced his supply-side policies. Equally, the slogan has empowered and
protected the U.S. economy from external competition. According to the Trump Administration,
it’s economic policy encourage to protect American industries through the implementation of tax
cuts and protectionists mechanisms for its international trading partners. Arguably, the American
industries are being protected from global competition due to the high taxation costs on imports
thus derailing international trade volume.

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References
Chasmar, J. (2016).Bill Clinton vowed to ‘Make America Great again’ in 1992, now says the
slogan is racist. .Retrieved from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/9/bill-
clinton-vowed-to-make-america-great-again-in-/
Firey, A.T. (2018).Are Trump’s Economic Policies really making America Great? Retrieved
from https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/are-trumps-economic-policies-
really-making-america-great
Ghemawat, P. (2017).Globalization in the age of Trump. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2017/07/globalization-in-the-age-of-trump
Moore S. (2016).There’s nothing Mythical about Reaganomics. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemoore/2016/05/04/obamanomics/#235f410c3c1c
Mukherjee, S.R. (2018).Make America Great Again. Retrieved from
https://journals.openedition.org/lisa/9887
Parket,K.(2019). ‘Make America Great Again’ is no longer just a slogan. It’s a symbol of
rebellion.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/make-america-great-
again-is-no-longer-just-a-slogan-its-a-symbol-of-rebellion/2019/02/22/69710bb0-36f2-
11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a4f2f159b06f

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