Follow us on Twitter!
Blog Header Logo
DG&A's Transportation Consulting Blog
Posted by on in NAFTA
  • Font size: Larger Smaller
  • Hits: 2084
  • 0 Comments
  • Print

The Trump Presidency – a 6-month report card

b2ap3_thumbnail_th5.jpg

This week marks the six-month anniversary of the Donald Trump presidency. Four months ago, I posted a blog (http://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/will-donald-trump-be-a-successful-president ) that looked at the president’s strengths and weaknesses. I thought, at the time, that this might help provide some insights into his potential for success or failure in the job. These are my thoughts at this milestone.

Clearly president Trump has made several key decisions during this period. He terminated America’s interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), took America out of the Paris Climate Accord, overturned president Obama’s decision to not permit the Keystone XL pipeline into America, changed the balance of America’s alliances in the Middle East, pushed hard for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, initiated a review of America’s participation in NAFTA, instituted a ban on citizens from six primarily Muslim countries and oversaw the appointment of a new Supreme Court Judge, justice Neil Gorsuch.

While he has talked a lot about infrastructure spending, reducing taxes, building a wall between Mexico and the United States and tax reform, there have been few legislative achievements. Other than some positive stock market and employment numbers, most Americans are not seeing many tangible results from this president. Donald Trump’s overall approval rating stands at 39 percent, a historical low for a president in office for six months. On the bright side, his approval rating among Republicans stands at 85 percent. Looking back at my March blog, I now realize that my assessment of Donald Trump was largely correct. However, I now see some character traits more clearly and these traits are very problematic for him.

President Trump did have and still does have a vision of America. He frequently talks about “Make America Great Again” and about restoring lost manufacturing jobs to the United States. One of his biggest problems is that he lacks a coherent plan to make his vision a reality. Withdrawing from the Paris accord will not bring back lost coal mining jobs. Job growth in the energy sector will come from investing in the new sources that are growing rapidly. Withdrawing from TPP will hurt America’s trading relationships with countries in the Asia- Pacific region. His Make America a Loner Strategy is hurting the country’s relationships with many of its allies.

Rather than have a well-articulated vision for the future, president Trump seems far more focused on undoing the major initiatives of former president, Obama. While the Republicans hold majorities in three key bodies of the U.S. government, president Trump does not seem to understand the importance of setting priorities and picking the right battles to fight.

The Democrats are interested in Infrastructure. Reaching an agreement on Infrastructure would have been an easier battle to pick than health care, president Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. By not understanding the true issues that are the essence of the health care debate and by not leading and working with the Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the president has made his presidency much harder that it must be. By not mastering the facts of the debate and creating a clear consistent message, he has undermined his chances of success and those of his party. By switching from repeal and replace Obamacare to repeal only to repeal and replace, he has lost credibility and harmed his reputation.

The self-professed dealmaker has shown an inability to make deals. For someone who has promised that he would lead America in winning, he is suffering a series of losses. For a person who loves the limelight, he tends to go into hiding at key moments when providing knowledge and leadership are essential to success.

The Russia collusion issue is going to come under great scrutiny in the months ahead. Nobody knows how this will evolve but it will certainly impact on his concentration and agenda. To be successful, president Trump will need to learn some lessons from his very challenging first six months and take action to right the ship. If he fails, he runs the risk of losing control of at least one house of Congress in 2018. This would greatly weaken his ability to govern. If he could reach common ground with Democrats on some important issues, even health care reform, this would provide huge benefits to him and his floundering presidency. If his negotiators can turn the changes to NAFTA into a Win/Win/Win exercise, he will certainly gain more support from two of America’s largest trading partners. The whole world will be watching.

 

To stay up to date on Best Practices in Freight Management, follow me on Twitter @DanGoodwill, join the Freight Management Best Practices group on LinkedIn and subscribe to Dan’s Transportation Newspaper (http://paper.li/DanGoodwill/1342211466).

0

Comments

  • No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment

Leave your comment

Guest Friday, 29 March 2024

Most Recent Posts

Search


Tag Cloud

automation Masters in Logistics future of freight industry US Manufacturing CSA scores freight forwarders Freight Rates CP Rail small parcel FuelQuest shipper-carrier contracts Freight Carriers Association of Canada supply chain management Freight Matching 3PL Politics Social Media in Transportation transportation newspaper financial management Finance and Transportation Dan Goodwill CN 360ideaspace Business Transformation Strategy freight RFP Outsourcing Sales Driving for Profit Freight contracts Doug Nix Transcom Fleet Leasing Success failure entrepreneur laptop Regina intermodal Omni Channel 2014 freight forecast Freight Recession Associates Hudsons Bay Company Sales Management Shipper Business Development Rail transportation news Right Shoring Dedicated Contract Carriage ELD NMFC 2015 Economic Forecast Freight Shuttle System NAFTA Load Boards Entrepreneur Distribution JB Hunt dynamic pricing University of Tennessee Infrastructure Schneider Logistics the future of transportation home delivery Colilers International Search engine optimization computer protection Bobby Harris Twitter China David Tuttle home delibery Digitization freight agreements broker bonds Canada's global strategy Yield Improvement Reshoring shipper-carrier collaboration dimensional pricing Emergent Strategy freight transportation in 2011 Inbound Transportation shipper-carrier roundtable asset management KCS Software Advice Keystone Pipeline Donald Trump Sales Training Government YRCW technology economic forecasts for 2012 coaching US Election Deferred Packaging truck driver Life Lessons General Motors Transportation Buying Trends Survey Canadian truckers autos transportation audit US Housing Market Trucking Warehousing Education Rotman School of Business Comey TMP Worldwide FMCSA bulk shipping fuel surcharge small business cyber security Toronto Maple Leafs Sales Whole Foods Map-21 Driver Shortage Canada-U.S. trade agreement YRC CSA Leadership truck drivers employee termination New York Times Packaging derailments Retail transportation Spanx FMS energy efficiency truck capacity trade shipping wine Horizontal Supply Chain Collaboration Harper Davos speech online shopping Carriers business start-up marketing Swift Derek Singleton recession robotics Global Transportation Hub Broker Canada U.S. trade driverless Uber Freight BNSF last mile delivery network optimization customer engagement Blockchain dark stores Success UP Social Media Surety bond ShipMax Fire Phone carrier conference MPG peak season pipelines Rate per Mile US Economy TransForce Retail buying trucking companies Transportation service 3PLTL digital freight matching Truckload Career Advice Scott Monty Canadian freight market Digital Freight Networks Crisis management Anti-Vax 2014 freight volumes capacity shortage Celadon Loblaw routing guide broker security freight rate increases 2014 economic forecast risk management Grocery Business Strategy Accessorial Charges RFP driver shortages e-commerce Transportation trucking company acquisitions Canadian Protests Railway Association of Canada Ferromex freight payment freight audit hiring process autonomous vehicles Canada EBOR TMS business security LTL LCV's Impeachment IANA Stephen Harper Trade Vision US Auto Sales FCPC drones selling trucking companies Management freight cost savings Wal-Mart cheap oil Covid-19 APL Conway computer security Canadian economy natural disasters CN Rail Doug Davis Werner Job satisfaction shipping 2013 Economic Forecast CSX tanker cars Climate Change Load broker Tracy Matura freight broker Value Proposition Justice LinkedIn ProMiles President Obama Business skills Cleveland Cavaliers economy rail safety freight bid Trucker Protest Transloading Freight Capacity Hockey Dedicated Trucking Tariffs Crude Oil by Rail solutions provider Global experience capacity shortages Transport Capital Partners (TCP) Blogging BlueGrace Logistics Training New Hires Microsoft Montreal Canadiens Adrian Gonzalez Geopolitics Otto driver pay MBA FCA CRM freight transportation conference freight marketplace Leafs freight costs Coronavirus mentoring computer Sales Strategy Freight Management CITA Shipper Pulse Survey Facebook consumer centric economic outlook USMCA $75000 bond freight transportation NS Muhammad Ali Electric Vehicles NCC freight payment Trump Online grocery shopping Canadian Transportation & Logistics freight audit USA Truck Toronto Consulting Transplace Training Failure cars Amazon Freight 2012 Transportation Business Strategies. Jugaad Habs professional drivers driver

Blog Archives

March
February
December
October
September
August
June
May
April
March
January