The analysis of Donald Trump’s tax returns by the New York Times confirmed what everyone in New York vaguely knew: the President of the United States is not really the billionaire entrepreneur he claims to be. He is above all a bankrupt real estate developer, held at arm’s length by the banks, his fiscal deficits and his father’s donations, but who had the talent to write his legend thanks to his reality TV shows. After four years in office, what about Donald Trump, boss of America Inc? If the macroeconomic success was not contested until the Covid pandemic (full employment, poverty reduction, increase in median income), its concrete victories were, basically, a bit like its legend. There was the show, and the reality.
The show is the reception with great fanfare, at the White House, of the boss and employees of Harley-Davidson, the shabby icon of America. In February 2017, Donald Trump, flanked by his vice-president, Mike Pence, was seen inspecting the superb machines parked in front of the White House, both bundled up in their winter coats, while the company’s CEO, Matt Levatich , had put on the leather jacket that befits the circumstances. The president was indebted to the workers of Harley-Davidson, established in this state of Wisconsin which switched to the Republicans and offered him victory in 2016.
The honeymoon was short-lived. Harley-Davidson was already in bad shape before Donald Trump was elected, and when he imposed tariffs on steel, the Europeans responded by taxing the motorcycle company. The latter stepped up its relocation program, prompting, in June 2018, a call to boycott Donald Trump. “A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country – never! Their employees and customers are already very angry with them. If they move, look, it will be the beginning of the end, they have surrendered, they have quit! “, accused Donald Trump on Twitter. Judging by the success chosen by Donald Trump himself, the stock market price and the surge in Wall Street, which grew by 60% during his election. Harley-Davidson stock was halved at the same time, and its boss was sacked.
Protect the “loosers”
Donald Trump was during his mandate the friend of mediocre business owners, in decline: it is they who beg for support to compensate for their lack of competitiveness (Harley-Davidson had been protected, in the 1980s, by Ronald Reagan , Japanese imports). But the affair proved complicated to manage, the allies of Donald Trump being victims of stray bullets and friendly fire in the multiple trade wars he had started. The best known case is that of farmers Midwestern soybean producers, victims of Chinese responses and who had to be compensated with billions of dollars, but the industry has also had its funny stories. The first company to benefit from the tariffs was the manufacturer of household appliances Whirlpool, unable to offer products adapted to the new demand of American consumers, which obtained, in January 2018, the increase in tariffs of its Korean competitors.
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