Trump's economic strategy defies all political labels

Washington

A FEW weeks before Barack Obama was elected president in late 2008, US carmakers Chrysler and General Motors (GM) warned that they were in danger of folding. That could have led to hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing workers losing their jobs.

Immediately after entering office in 2009, Mr Obama marshalled a comprehensive bailout of the two car companies that helped secure their economic viability and allowed them to stay in business and to eventually return to profitability. The bailout saved around a quarter of a million American jobs at GM and Chrysler, and close to one million throughout the entire automotive supply chain.