Trump 2.0: the stage of moving fast and breaking things

A YEAR ago, we speculated the incoming Trump administration’s approach to policy making in his second term would focus on “moving fast and breaking things”, drawing from Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s unofficial motto for Silicon Valley.

Indeed, in less than a year, Trump-driven policy shifts have dramatically altered the global landscape, eschewing historical status quos across global trade policy via tariffs, defence spending burdens (in Europe and Japan), and even regional geopolitical conflicts. Meanwhile, they have provided sources for much of the volatility investors have experienced in global markets in the first year of his second term in office.

Recall in 2017, after being elected to America’s highest office, America’s 45th president was domestically focused, seeking to and succeeding in passing the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, America’s most significant reform of its tax code since the 1980s.