COLUMBIA, S.C. — Economists are weighing both the benefits and challenges our economy may face in the coming years under a Trump administration.
“The Trump administration will end up doing some things that will help boost the economy, and there will probably be some things along the way that don't help the economy quite as much,” Scott Baier, chairmen of the economic department at Clemson University, said.
With the former president securing a victory, many are left asking what does this mean for the economy of our nation and South Carolina.
"One positive thing that could come out, is that president trump, is using tariffs as a means to negotiate a fair trade practices from other countries, and he may get China to play more fairly and to cooperate, and we get better trade deals with that, and so we might not get the higher tariffs. We may get better trade deals coming out of that,” Baier said.
He emphasized that improved trade negotiations could benefit consumers by making goods and services more affordable. Baier also says we have to be cautious of potential pitfalls.
“One of my concerns would be, what happens with the overall deficit. Some of the things that President Trump has talked about is cutting taxes again to help stimulate the economy and also to increase spending. That could lead to larger deficits and again, we're already on an unsustainable path in terms of where the deficit is going, and that would be a concern,”
To better the economy here in South Carolina, Baier believes the president-elect should do the following.
“The best thing that could happen for the economy in South Carolina is the elimination of the costly regulations that could help small businesses. Again, I think a trade policy where tariffs are used to to protect our our industries in South Carolina, to drive more fair trade deals, not necessarily to end up with higher trade deals but to be used as a bargaining chip to protect some of our manufacturing base that those things would help help South Carolina,” he said.
And when it comes to inflation Baier says the following:
“The federal reserve has done a good job of bringing inflation back down to that two and a half percent level. I don't see anything in the near term that is going to cause inflation to tick up, and so I think inflation will remain under control,” he said.