Trump Has Been Slashing Regulations, and That Could Save Trillions

Along with his new plan to cut taxes, President Trump has been taking additional measures, away from the headlines, to strengthen the economy.

One of the most effective is cutting old regulations and not introducing new ones.

In his October 11 tax reform speech, the president said his administration has stopped or eliminated more regulations over the past eight months than any president during his full term in office, The Weekly Standard reported.  

According to the report, President Trump has overseen more deregulation than either George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan.

Over the past 20 years, the government has added an average of 13,000 new regulations annually, but under Trump, the number of new restrictions could be close to zero.

The Weekly Standard reports that finding in a study from the Mercatus Center, a free-market think tank at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia.

One study used a microeconomic model to show the extent to which regulation factors into investment decisions, which in turn hampers economic growth, the Competitive Enterprise Institute reported.

According to that study, had regulatory burdens remained constant since 1980, the economy would have been 25 percent larger in 2012.

"Put another way, during that time, the economy grew by at least $4 trillion less each year than it could have," the report stated.

Over the years, a number of studies have shown that regulations have cost the economy trillions of dollars.