Trump Reversals Hint at Wall Street Wing’s Sway in White House -
By ALAN RAPPEPORTAPRIL 12, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump made three startling economic policy reversals on Wednesday, stepping
away from pledges he made as a candidate and even policies he supported only days ago.
“It doesn’t appear to be a sound idea as a matter of tax policy.” Howard Gleckman, a fellow at the Tax Policy Center, said, “It
looks like Trump is not happy with the border adjustment tax idea for whatever reason and he’s looking for an alternative.”
With more changes apparently in store, Mr. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, added an additional major reversal on his behalf: He said on CNBC on Wednesday
that the president’s campaign promise to eliminate the national debt was “hyperbole.”
Robert Pear contributed reporting.
In an interview published by The Journal midday, Mr. Trump revealed his softer approach to China — the about-face coming
less than a week after meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping — and made another reversal on health care.
“I don’t like the word adjustment because our country gets taken advantage of, to use a nice
term, by every other country in the world,” Mr. Trump said in the Fox Business interview.
Larry Kudlow, the economist who advised Mr. Trump when he was a candidate, panned Mr. Trump’s
reciprocal tax idea as a nonsensical approach that would essentially raise taxes.