donald trump <u+2019>s surprise victory could lead to a historic rolling back of myriad regulations that president barack obama imposed on a wide swath of american commerce, from power-plant emissions and workforce rules to restrictions placed on banks. <u+201c>we are going to eliminate every unnecessary job-killing regulation, cancel illegal obama executive orders,<u+201d> mr. trump said in sioux city, iowa,<u+00a0>on sunday. mr. trump<u+2019>s hands-off approach to regulation is one leg of his economic-policy platform, which also calls for a big tax cut and a much more aggressive trade posture that threatens tariffs on u.s. companies and trading partners. mr. trump has said he would direct his presidential transition team to identify hundreds of executive orders for him to undo when he takes office next january. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. as republicans have retained control of congress,<u+00a0>mr. trump could also support a congressional push to repeal laws that have prompted significant new regulation, particularly in the financial sector. mr. trump<u+00a0>didn<u+2019>t talk much about financial regulation during the campaign, but when he did, he sent one consistent signal: he would like to rip<u+00a0>up<u+00a0>the landmark 2010 dodd-frank overhaul law that has shaped the postcrisis american financial system. <u+201c>we have to get rid of dodd-frank,<u+201d> he told fox news last fall. <u+201c>the banks aren<u+2019>t loaning to people that need it,<u+201d> he added. <u+201c>the regulators are running the banks.<u+201d> it is unclear how high a priority that would actually rank in the trump agenda. but it has long been a major focus for congressional republicans. they have been repeatedly stymied in their financial deregulatory push by mr. obama and his aides, who have viewed dodd-frank as a pillar of their legacy. having maintained control of both chambers, gop lawmakers will likely try to move quickly to move similar legislation through congress, expecting that this time, they won<u+2019>t face white house resistance. a top target for republican lawmakers and their business allies is weakening the consumer financial protection bureau, a dodd-frank creation championed by massachusetts democratic sen. elizabeth warren. the bureau<u+2019>s aggressive moves to rewrite the rules of american finance<u+2014>curbing high-dollar payday loans, banning banks for forcing disgruntled consumers into mandatory arbitration and<u+00a0>cracking down on debt collectors<u+2014>have rankled a wide range of companies and creditors. mr. obama imposed<u+00a0>some<u+00a0>of his new rules via executive orders, which instruct federal agencies on anything from minor housekeeping issues to major security directives, and they are often much easier for the president to undo because they simply require signing a new executive order. but his administration implemented many others through federal regulations, which<u+00a0>have broader reach over the private sector but also carry more checks and balances. agencies must solicit public comment on rules and base their decisions on evidence collected over a yearslong process. repealing them can be equally laborious. mr. trump<u+2019>s promises to quickly repeal regulations <u+201c>are unrealistic because they can<u+2019>t be done with one fell swoop,<u+201d> said susan dudley, a top regulatory czar for president george w. bush. undoing regulations can take almost as much work as implementing them, a process that could take a year or longer. <u+201c>you can<u+2019>t just flip a switch,<u+201d> said jared bernstein, an economist who worked in the first term of the obama administration. still, republicans have other tools to reverse mr. obama<u+2019>s regulations, including the congressional review act, which would allow congress to nullify a regulation passed within 60 legislative days of the end of mr. obama<u+2019>s term, a period dating to this past may. mr. trump could also appoint regulators that will less rigorously enforce existing standards and federal prosecutors that may not defend lawsuits filed against mr. obama<u+2019>s orders.<u+00a0>several of mr. obama<u+2019>s regulations, including those on carbon-dioxide emissions and immigration, are tied up in litigation. presidents also tend to find that rolling back regulations requires more political capital than they are willing to spend. in his first nine months in office, mr. obama ultimately repealed a few dozen of some 4,500 rules implemented during the bush administration. <u+201c>if he is determined to get rid of regulations, my advice would be decide early on which ones you<u+2019>d like to do,<u+201d> said ms. dudley, director of the regulatory studies center at the george washington university. a broad rollback by mr. trump would risk <u+201c>taking on more than is possible.<u+201d> in his final year in office, mr. obama completed rules on<u+00a0>hot-button issues such as how much overtime pay white-collar workers should earn and what responsibilities retirement advisers have to their customers. republicans in congress have introduced legislation to limit or undo both of those. the white house<u+2019>s final-year push also included rules from the treasury department to combat inversions and other cross-border tax avoidance maneuvers. write to nick timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
donald trump election upset could undo regulation on commerce - wsj
nick timiraos