Economic issues at the annual CPAC meeting
Economic issues at the annual CPAC meeting
This week, the Conservative Political Action Coalition hosts its annual meeting of leaders from the American right. Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak, although his last remaining GOP competitor, Nikki Haley, is not.
The event often previews some of the narratives we’ll hear more of as the campaign goes on, including on the economy.
We already know some of the GOP goals for the economy if the party reclaims the White House.
“One of the things that I think we’ll see is actually an end to a lot of current proposals rather than a specific move towards new initiatives,” said Iain Murray, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
One example is rolling back Biden administration efforts to shift towards a more green economy. And Donald Trump has already said he wants another round of tariffs if he wins in November, which Murray said would hurt the economy.
“Tariffs are a bit of a gimmick,” he said. “In the end, all they actually do is raise costs for the American consumer and just foster political dysfunction, as well as people arguing over them.”
Tariffs are one of several areas of deep divisions among conservatives.
“There’s debate now over fiscal responsibility in a way that there really never has been in the last four decades on the right,” said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute. “And now, you know, President Trump is staunchly opposed to reducing projected government spending, which is the main driver of the debt.”
The national debt is likely to be a major topic of discussion throughout the conference, especially when it comes to just who is to blame and who — come Election Day — can start to fix it.
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