How Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump's Economic Policies Compare

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has laid out his economic policies if elected president as he looks to revitalize his flailing 2024 campaign.

On Monday, DeSantis announced his 10-point "Declaration of Economic Independence" plan, which he said will tackle a United States economy that "no longer works for the American family."

Among the policies include keeping taxes low by "eliminating bureaucracy and red tape," bolstering the country's energy independence, and reining in the federal reserve.

However, the man who was long thought to be the ideal firebrand replacement for Donald Trump as the de-facto leader of the GOP—without the legal issues and media circus which follows the former president—is also accused of mimicking Trump's economic policies with his new initiative.

The comparisons arrive as DeSantis continues to trail Trump in GOP primary polls by a large margin, seemingly unable to close the gap and triggering a reshuffle of his campaign after just two months.

"DeSantis's candidacy has been, 'I'm the reasonable Trump—you don't have to worry about the crazy tweets, but I'll mirror him on the policy,'" Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative American Action Forum, told The Washington Post. "That's what this is: Here he is just trying to match Trump."

Newsweek reached out to DeSantis' office via email for comment.

In a speech in New Hampshire on Monday, DeSantis laid out his economic vision as "We the American people win; they lose."

"We are a nation with an economy, not the other way around," DeSantis said. "We Americans are citizens of a republic, not cogs in the wheel of a global economy. We will not tolerate technocratic management of American decline."

In rhetoric that is similar to Trump, DeSantis was highly critical of China and vowed to eliminate its preferential trade status. The first step in his 10-point plan is "taking back control of our economy from China and restoring our economic sovereignty."

"They said if you granted China special trading status and put them in the World Trade Organization, that China would become more democratic," DeSantis said.

"What actually happened over these past 25 years, China has become more authoritarian, more powerful, he added. "And we've seen our relationship marred by the theft of our intellectual property, trade dumping, currency manipulation and espionage."

Other DeSantis policies which appear to mirror the former president's include vowing to "create a fair labor market by securing the border" and eliminating chain migration.

DeSantis set out to target "feckless and wasteful" federal spending while declaring himself as the "new sheriff in town" when it comes to government expenditures. His campaign said he would appoint a chair of the Federal Reserve "who will focus on maintaining a stable dollar instead of the political pressures of the day."

The 2024 hopeful also vowed to stop taxpayers' dollars from going to organizations that "seek to undermine" family values and beliefs, an apparent offshoot of the Florida governor's ongoing battle against the "woke" agenda.

DeSantis previously vowed to abolish four federal agencies if elected president: the Department of Energy, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Education, and Commerce, in order to "reduce the size and scope" of the federal government and to "push back against woke ideology and against the leftism we see creeping into all institutions of American life."

In 2016, Trump made fixing problems within the federal government a major campaign promise, vowing to "drain the swamp" as president at every opportunity.

During his time as president, Trump also made removing D.C. red tape a frequent policy. In April, Trump said he would remove President Joe Biden's "wasteful and job-killing regulatory onslaught" and rein in "out-of-control bureaucracy" if elected president.

Trump said he would also bring back independent regulatory agencies, such as the FCC and the FTC, back under presidential authority if he wins the next election.

"No longer will unelected members of the Washington Swamp be allowed to act as the fourth branch of our Republic," the former president said.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller accused DeSantis of trying to imitate the former president with his economic policies.

"He literally cribbed almost everything from what we did with President Trump in his first term — down to the terminology, the language, the framing. It was quite remarkable," Miller told The Washington Post. "It read to me like a ChatGPT version of how someone would try to re-create Trumpian economic policies."

There are some differences between what DeSantis has proposed and Trump's economic policies. While Trump previously waded into the non-fungible tokens bubble, he previously warned in 2021 that cryptocurrencies are "dangerous" because of the lack of regulation.

In comparison, DeSantis vowed to protect cryptocurrencies if elected president and work to "end politically driven debanking and financial doxing."

DeSantis also vowed to make universities and colleges, instead of taxpayers, responsible for the loans their students accrue, as well as allowing student loans to be discharged through bankruptcy like any other loan.

Trump has so far not delved too much into proposals on how he will tackle student loan debt if he re-enters the White House, but previously denounced Biden's student loan forgiveness program as "very unfair" after it was shot down by the Supreme Court in June.

DeSantis also made no mention of cuts to change Social Security or Medicare in his "Declaration of Economic Independence" plan. Trump has frequently attacked DeSantis over his previous calls to cut social security and Medicare, which the former president has vowed to protect.