Executive Order 13772: Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System

This order sets forth a set of ideological goals for executive branch financial policy:

1. Individual freedom of commerce: Generally, conservatives will fight to uphold the rights of individuals to make deals for themselves; for instance, many conservatives want to lower the minimum wage so that people have the freedom to work for lower wages, if that’s what they want.
2. Avoiding taxpayer-funded bailouts: These were a common feature of the Obama era due to the 2008 economic recession, in which many companies were given assistance from the government in order to protect workers at those companies and the economy at large.  Many people, especially those on the economic left, objected to them.
3. Regulation based on rigorous impact analysis: Checking to see if a policy works before implementing it is important, and it’s also important to end policies that aren’t working.
4. Competitiveness of American firms (against foreign firms): Trump is known for economic protectionism and for regularly using the phrase “America First”, but he’s not necessarily anti-globalization.  The idea here is to help American firms do well relative to foreign firms, by restricting foreign firms in America, and aiding American firms overall.
5. America-First international regulatory approach: Generally, Trump wants America to fight for its own interests in international negotiations; fighting for the interests of others can strengthen alliances and create U.S. soft power, but fighting for our own interests can bring us more money.
6. Appropriate and Efficient Regulation: See Executive Order 13771 for Trump’s attitude towards regulation.
7. Government accountability: Corruption is bad, and every government action should exist for a concrete reason that is not “It helps the official who passed it.”

The order specifically requires that all U.S. laws be evaluated based on these principles in a report compiled by the Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin at the time of this order).  The very long and complex four-part completed report suggests that many of the provisions of Dodd-Frank be holistically reexamined, such as the Volcker rule, which prevents banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments.  The FDIC has since loosened Volcker rule restrictions.  Interestingly, the reports do not endorse Trump’s trade-focused economic protectionism, stating that you can advance American interests “by promoting a level playing field”, though they do ask relevant officials to talk to other countries about “market access issues”.

1. ↑ Perkins, D.W., Eva Su, and Baird Webel.  (2018, August 20).  Treasury Completes Series of Reports on Financial Regulatory Relief.  Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IN10956.pdf
2. ↑ Mnuchin, S.T. and Craig S. Phillips.  (2017, June).  A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities: Banks and Credit Unions.  Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/A%20Financial%20System.pdf, pg 8
3. ↑ Chen, J. and Margaret James.  (2020, July 5).  The Volcker Rule.  Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/volcker-rule.asp
4. ↑ Mnuchin, S.T. and Craig S. Phillips.  (2017, October).  A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities: Capital Markets.  Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/A-Financial-System-Capital-Markets-FINAL-FINAL.pdf, pg 6
5. ↑ Mnuchin, S.T. and Craig S. Phillips.  (2017, October).  A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities: Asset Management and Insurance.  Retrieved from https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Documents/A-Financial-System-That-Creates-Economic-Opportunities-Asset\_Management-Insurance.pdf, pg 163