While many will breathe a sigh of relief as President Trump departs from the White House, up to the end US voters still had more faith in him than in Joe Biden when it came to the economy. This column compares the performance of the US in various economic indicators during the (pre-Covid) Trump administration with President Obama’s final three years, as well as in the euro area, to demonstrate that the view of Donald Trump as ‘the businessman who can at least run the economy’ was mistaken. The real danger of this view is that it suggests that economic policy can best be handled by entrepreneurs – something the Italians have learnt is not the case.