Ever since former President Donald Trump was found liable for sexual assault, he’s been all over the news. He promised to make Spain pay for missing NATO spending targets, as he demanded massive tax cuts and spending cuts in Congress. His moves are set against a dynamic and contentious international relations and domestic policy storm.
At a NATO press availability, Trump dismissed an alarming new U.S. intelligence assessment about imminent Iranian attacks. His comments are a part of a larger plan to focus U.S. military and economic efforts away from protecting U.S. interests overseas. Indeed, during his administration, Trump pushed European allies to spend more on their own defense, famously – at least in Spain – calling out Madrid.
‘I will get Spain to pay,’ Trump boasted, doubling down on his promise to make NATO allies live up to their defense spending commitments. This is in line with his much-longer insistence that European nations should pay more towards shared security.
To better solidify Republican support in Congress, Trump held a “One, Big, Beautiful” event. To achieve that radical agenda, he implored GOP Senators to support his unwritten tax bill. He made it very clear that no one should take vacation until the spending bill is passed. He made all of us feel the urgency he feels about these legislative efforts.
His proposed infrastructure tax bill would do the same, completing the tax cuts he initiated during his presidency in 2017. It’s filled with new provisions that will have a dramatic effect on American taxpayers for the worse. One particularly interesting aspect are temporary, albeit meaningful, tax increases starting in 2025 through 2028. Many experts cautioned that these breaks may make future tax filings more complex.
There are some elements of the bill that incredibly blatantly do the bidding of special interests. For instance, it increases the deduction for expenses related to hunting marine mammals from $10,000 to $50,000, which overwhelmingly benefits Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska. This narrow, transactional approach has faced serious pushback, with tax experts claiming that it cuts directly against more general, long-standing tax policy objectives.
Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of the Tax Law Center at New York University, commented on the situation, stating, “This is a nonsensical approach to tax policy.” Her comments underscore how some see the massive tax bill as prioritizing handouts to certain groups over broad-based, smart reform.
The administration’s tax blueprint calls for reducing the number of income-tax brackets. Additionally, it increases the child tax credit to address the needs of middle-class families. His administration made a deal with the department for Treasury to significantly limit its enforcement capabilities. They committed to removing the controversial Section 899, or the revenge tax provision. Legal experts had expressed concern about its potential impact on foreign investment in the U.S., with attorneys at Holland & Knight noting that “great concern had been expressed by Wall Street and affected stakeholders about the enactment of Section 899 and its impact on foreign investment in the United States.”
European Union Executive Council Chief Charles Michel said Europe intends to purchase a lot more American armaments. Such a move would set the stage for a Trump-negotiated trade deal. While the move has significant positive economic implications for U.S. manufacturers, it brings to the table bigger questions on military spending and international relations.
Trump is doubling down on making the actions taken by his administration more in line with his campaign promises. The deep cuts to Medicaid proposed in this week’s spending bill have advocacy groups as well as Republicans in Congress up in arms. They fear that these changes will negatively impact minorities and other vulnerable populations.