Democratic President Rebuilds Economy, Just In Time To Hand It Off To Trump — Again

Trump damaged the Obama economy he inherited with his trade war, and now appears poised to repeat that move with the Biden economy.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday took credit for building a strong economy out of the ruins of the COVID-19 pandemic — just in time for him to turn it over to President-elect Donald Trump, who is already threatening tariffs that would likely weaken it and bring back inflation.

“The bottom line is, in four short years, we’ve come a long way … from the crisis we inherited,” Biden said in a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank. “I’m not saying it was perfect, but it ends up at this moment the best economy, strongest economy in the world and, for all Americans, doing better.”

The Democrat cited the jobs created under his administration, as well as clean energy and infrastructure projects begun all over the country, and said he hoped the man who both preceded him and will succeed him in the Oval Office does not undo them or follow through with his promised tariffs.

“He seems determined to impose steep universal tariffs on all imported goods brought to this country, on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer,” Biden said. “Who does he thinks pays for this? I believe this approach is a major mistake.”

Trump, though, appears unlikely to heed that warning. Just after midnight Tuesday, he mockingly called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “Governor” of Canada, which he called a “State.” During Trudeau’s visit days earlier to the Republican’s South Florida country club home, Trump had reportedly told his guest that if he didn’t want tariffs imposed on Canada, his country should consider joining the U.S. as a new state.