Trump Tries to Forge 'Golden Age' Economy of Self-Reliance and Defiance

In describing his economic priorities, Donald Trump has referenced President William McKinley, who presided over an era of rapid industrialization

- David Uberti

Trade-war threats. Sweeping deportation plans. A declared "energy emergency." President Trump's whirlwind return to office has brought into focus his vision for what he calls a new "Golden Age" of America. A deluge of executive orders and directives in the administration's first week shows a drive toward a more self-reliant economy that makes more products at home, pumps out more of its own oil and gas and employs more U.S. workers.

A potentially leaner, meaner government at the center of it all is already throwing the country's weight around—even against longtime allies—in the hope of bending global trade to America's will. "We will be the envy of every nation," Trump said in his inaugural address Monday. "And we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer."

In discussing possible tariffs that could upend some U.S. companies' supply chains and other countries' entire economies, Trump has likened his approach to that of President William McKinley, a Republican leader during an era known as the "Gilded Age"—a period of rapid industrialization after the Civil War that created tremendous wealth for America, but was marked by rampant inequality.

"President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent," Trump said Monday, pledging to rename Denali, North America's tallest mountain. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL peak, for the 25th president. "He was a natural businessman."

Trump's made-in-America push in some ways marks an acceleration of Biden-era policies to boost domestic manufacturing in the face of increasingly assertive Chinese industries. The Biden administration targeted tariffs and pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in support for renewable energy, chips manufacturing and infrastructure.