Donald Trump is set to become the 45^th President of the United States today at 12 noon Eastern and he will inherit an economy that’s expanding at a moderate pace, based on available data published to date. Optimists argue that the new administration’s policies will boost the growth rate, but there’s also plenty of skepticism in other quarters about what to expect, in part because of concerns that Trump’s economic plans could start a trade war. The one thing that everyone can (or should) agree on at the moment is that the world’s biggest economy ended 2016 on a relatively high note, according to a range of indicators. There are still many problems facing the country from an economic perspective, but for the moment there’s a respectable tail wind blowing.
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