President Donald Trump recently had the opportunity to address the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Possibly the most shocking element of this appearance was his faithful reliance on the teleprompter. Mr. Trump is known for his improvisational speech antics that often get him into trouble, but at this particular conference, he reigned it in and stayed on script.
He spoke of positive changes in the American economy: “after years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencing strong economic growth.” This statement intimates at the positive economic trends that have been happening over the past few years. For example, the U.S. economy exceeded its fastest growth rate in the second quarter of last year, and growth has been fairly consistent since then.
Trump also commented on increases in jobs, saying “since my election, we’ve created 2.4 million jobs, and that number is going up very, very substantially.” He continued by saying that “African-American unemployment has reached the lowest rate ever recorded in the United States, and so has unemployment among Hispanic Americans.”
The jobs market in the U.S. has, in fact, been doing very well. Many economic bigwigs have speculated that the American workforce is reaching full employment. Full employment means that everyone who wants a job has one. This is an especially promising boon for minority communities who often experience unemployment at higher rates than the national average.
Mr. Trump also found occasion at this conference to clarify the meaning of his America first campaign: “America first does not mean America alone. When America grows, so does the world.” He explained that, “We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at expense of others. Unfair trade undermines us all.”
All-in-all, his speech was an attempt to take credit for many of the economic successes of late and to set a precedent for how America plans to move forward. With the economy in good health, Trump sticking to the script, and citizens being able to find work, America may just have a chance for some positive developments down the road. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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