Trump's economic suicide mission is driving America off a fiscal cliff 

The U.S. economy is being driven at full speed toward a cliff’s edge, with President Trump and the Republican Party not just pressing firmly on the accelerator but actively disabling the brakes. Between their embrace of tariffs and tax cuts for the wealthy, it is increasingly looking like the Republican Party will be headed into next year's midterms with a strategy resembling the ending of "Thelma and Louise."

For decades, America has enjoyed a unique economic privilege. Despite maintaining historically high debt loads, we have benefited from our reputation as the world's preeminent financial safe haven. When uncertainty strikes, investors across the globe traditionally rush to purchase U.S. Treasurys, keeping our borrowing costs remarkably low and enabling our deficit spending addiction. This economic exceptionalism has allowed us to postpone a true reckoning with our mounting national debt.

That postponement is now ending with alarming speed, thanks to Trump's exorbitant tariffs and aggressive posturing toward allies and trade partners. The international community, which once viewed American leadership as a stabilizing hegemony, now sees us as a force of unpredictability and hostility.

Trump’s tariffs aren't just diplomatically reckless — they are also inherently inflationary here at home. As import costs rise, those increases will inevitably be passed on to American consumers. The situation worsens when we consider retaliatory measures already being implemented. China, for instance, is beginning to choke off access to rare earth minerals that U.S. companies depend on. Such supply chain disruptions will further drive up prices while limiting production, the latter of which puts pressure on companies to cut jobs. 

The evidence of our economic suicide is already appearing in financial markets, where we're witnessing an unprecedented divergence between Treasury rates and the dollar's value. Historically, these indicators moved in tandem — if one rose, so did the other. Now, they're sharply moving in opposite directions, with bond rates climbing rapidly while the dollar plummets. This isn't just an economic anomaly; it's a screaming red warning light that international confidence in America's economic stewardship is eroding. 

Rather than addressing these warning signs, the Trump administration is exacerbating them by advancing ahead with a reckless domestic fiscal policy. The push to permanently extend the 2017 tax cuts on personal income will add well over $4 trillion to the deficit, meaning Republicans are hurtling us further into debt despite the fact that the debt is becoming much more expensive to sustain. 

Economic history teaches that nations can sustain high debt levels when growth is robust, interest rates remain low, and international confidence stays strong. Trump's policies are systematically dismantling all three of these supporting pillars. Growth is threatened by trade wars, interest rates are climbing due to declining international confidence, and that confidence itself is being actively undermined by profligate policy domestically. 

What makes this situation particularly dangerous is the speed at which it's unfolding. The divergence between Treasury rates and dollar value signals that markets are losing faith in American economic leadership at an alarming pace. This isn't a gradual shift that allows for careful adjustment — it's a rapid deterioration that could quickly become a self-reinforcing spiral. 

The Republican response to these challenges has been to accelerate toward the cliff rather than change course. Their economic plan amounts to "cut taxes for the wealthy, raise tariffs on everyone else, and slash social programs." This isn't responsible governance. This is economic negligence on a national scale that disproportionately harms ordinary Americans trying to make ends meet in an increasingly unaffordable economy. 

The U.S. has long benefited from its position as the world's premier economic power, with the extraordinary privilege of issuing the global reserve currency. That position wasn't achieved by accident but through decades of relatively predictable policy and international partnership. The Trump administration is recklessly gambling with this inheritance, treating our economic future as just another business venture to be leveraged and risked. Too bad for us Trump is a man who managed to literally bankrupt a casino. 

Nicholas Creel is an associate professor of business law and ethics at Georgia College and State University. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.