How Trump's tax cuts and tariffs will make coronavirus recession worse

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's pre-pandemic economic blueprint of massive tax cuts and global trade wars not only failed to deliver the promised spike in growth and domestic investment, it also now appears to have left the U.S. more vulnerable to the devastating financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Even before the pandemic pushed the U.S. into what is almost certainly a recession, benefits from Trump's policies on taxes and trade were largely offset by the costs of soaring national debt and damage to U.S. foreign relations - challenges now magnified by the health crisis.

"The lasting legacy is a bigger deficit and higher debt (as a share of the economy), which means what we're doing in response to the pandemic is piling on something