What a GOP Sweep Could Mean For Businesses

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GOP Sweep of 2024 Election

As we all know, former President Donald Trump won a second presidential term, and the GOP secured control of the Senate and quite possibly the House of Representatives on November 5th. Now business owners and investors are asking themselves how this result affects them.

There are several actions that a president can take that may affect investors and businesses. For instance, the president as the head of the executive branch can slow the pace of regulation or even in rollback regulations imposed by various federal agencies. For example, the President might reverse SEC requirements for climate related disclosures for public companies.

  • Antitrust Enforcement. Another area where we may see a significant change from the current administration is antitrust enforcement. Current FTC chairperson Lina Khan has been very aggressive in challenging mergers and acquisitions as anticompetitive. The FTC‘s litigation record challenging proposed mergers has been exceptionally poor during her watch, but the agency’s aggressive enforcement efforts have had a chilling effect on M&A activity.
  • President Trump recently stated “tariffs” is one of his favorite words. Tariffs are a tax on imports and a device to protect domestic industries from foreign competition. Some companies may benefit if they have a cost advantage over their foreign competitors due to tariffs. On the flip side, the imposition of tariffs on materials and inputs may disrupt supply chains and cause businesses to pass higher costs to customers.

Also consider the Legislative Agenda. Now that it appears that the GOP will secure control over both chambers, business owners and investors should be asking what sort of legislative agenda the Republicans have for them.

One clear policy agenda on the minds of Republicans is extending the Tax Cuts and Job Acts tax cuts that were enacted in 2017 but scheduled to sunset in 2025. In addition to extending the TCJA tax cuts, Republicans may look to overturn portions of the Inflation Reduction Act which provided subsidies and tax credits for efforts to fight climate change.

Beyond the tax code we will have to wait for the GOP legislative agenda to be unveiled. Both parties in Congress have deferred to the executive branch in recent administrations rather than proceeding with a robust legislative agenda. Be assured that AJM&A will be monitoring the situation and assessing what affect the new elected and appointed officials could have on our clients.