Trump’s Team Can Make America Great Again And Improve Indo-US Ties

US President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of key members of his team to shape economic policy is in tune with his core beliefs: small government, free market and energy independence. He has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize the federal government. In a newspaper article, the two celebrity entrepreneurs pointed out that they have already been working with the Trump transition team to “hire a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America.” The duo will focus on three major kinds of reforms-regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings. The two made it clear that deregulation will be an integral part of their remit. Their decisions would be guided by the Constitution and two Supreme Court decisions handed down during the Biden administration, which invalidated a slew of federal regulations. DOGE will present this list of regulations to Trump, who can, by an Executive action, immediately pause enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission, they explained.

Some regulations will require fewer employees, which, once implemented, can bring down expenditure by $two trillion. This will be a big relief for taxpayers. One must remember that the country’s debt is around $36 trillion. Last month, British historian Niall Ferguson compared contemporary America with the Soviet Union. He said that, just like the Soviet Union’s economy in the 1980s, the US, for the first time, will spend more in interest payments on its federal debt than on defence. He called it “Ferguson’s law”: when a great power is spending more on debt service than on defence, it won’t be great for much longer. “It’s a law because it’s been true of all the great powers through history,” be it the Dutch Republic, Habsburg Spain, Bourbon France, the Ottomans, or the British Empire. Cognizant of the problem, and true to his MAGA (Make America Great Again) promise, Trump has begun in earnest. DOGE will attempt to trim government size, fiscal deficit and regulations.

If successful, it will be a win-win situation—lower taxes for common people, a better fiscal situation, and unburdened entrepreneurship. Hopefully, Indian politicians will learn a lesson from DOGE. Trump’s other appointments also have the potential to revive the biggest economy of the world. He has chosen oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright to head the Department of Energy. Wright is very critical of climate activists, whom he regards as alarmist. Lest one forgets, it was because of the influence of these activists that the US is not able to increase fossil fuel production. It is reasonable to expect domestic petroleum production to rise, which can possibly bring down crude prices globally. Which is good for the Indian economy. Investment banker Howard Lutnick, Trump’s choice for US Commerce Secretary, expectedly advocates wide-ranging tariffs. This may have consequences for Indian exports as the US is a major trade partner. But this can be offset with a more vigorous China plus one strategy. On the whole, Trump’s economic ministers can boost both the American economy and Indo-US ties.