New York (AFP)

The arrival at the White House of Joe Biden, who for example promised strong support for clean energy or an increase in the minimum wage, may be a game-changer for certain economic sectors.

The extent of the changes, however, will depend on whether or not Democrats take over control of the Senate, which will be played out on January 5 in a double by-election in the conservative state of Georgia.

The fight against the pandemic

The president-elect has made this his number one priority.

In the short term, restaurants, shops, leisure businesses and airlines could suffer from new restrictive measures.

A new plan to support the economy should limit the impact, even if its scope will depend heavily on Senate control.

The rapid deployment of a vaccine, like the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech which has shown, according to these groups, to be "90%" effective in the phase 3 trial, the last before an application for approval, could also change things. .

Finance

Many companies have benefited from the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% decided by Donald Trump in 2017, but the banks have particularly made their fuss.

The rise in this rate to 28%, defended by Mr. Biden, should erode their profits.

Even if this measure is not formally in their program, Mr. Biden like his vice-president Kamala Harris also expressed their support for a tax on financial transactions.

The president-elect is also expected to restore power to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent agency created after the 2008-2009 financial crisis but long in the crosshairs of Republicans and the banking industry.

He could also go back on several regulations unraveled by the Trump administration, such as those defending consumers against predatory loans or discrimination.

Energies

The new president aims for an economy without emissions by 2050. To achieve this, he particularly wants clean electricity in 2035, which implies the end of the use of coal for this purpose.

His program also includes banning new permits to drill for oil and gas on state-owned land and in the open sea. Biden, however, does not intend to ban the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing for the exploitation of shale oil and gas, but only to block the issuance of new permits on state-owned land.

Mr. Biden wants to invest a total of 2,000 billion dollars over four years for renewable energy, the electrification of transport and research into new technologies.

At the same time, he wants to pass new emission standards that would affect fuel-powered vehicles, which still constitute the vast majority of cars sold in the United States.

Health

Mr Biden wants to defend, and expand, the great reform of the Obamacare health care system, which the Republican administration has tried to weaken, in particular by creating a new option of a publicly managed health insurance system, which would compete with private insurers.

The future president also wants to propose several measures to lower the price of drugs, for example by allowing managers of the public health insurance program for the over 65s (Medicare) to negotiate prices or by allowing patients to order drugs abroad.

Industrial

Mr. Trump has shaken up US trade relations with tariffs on hundreds of billions of goods, leading to high prices of many products and retaliatory measures.

While Mr. Biden should be more predictable on the subject than the current White House tenant and his impromptu tweets, his stance isn't necessarily going to change at all.

A certain softening of relations with China, a key market for many sectors, could be favorable to companies like Airbus and Boeing.

In the longer term, Mr. Biden wants to impose a tax on companies relocating jobs to manufacture products sold in the United States.

Consumer services

Joe Biden wants to increase the minimum hourly wage to 15 dollars, which would increase the purchasing power of low-income employees but would cut into the profits of certain sectors, in the restaurant industry in particular: the waiters being paid in part by tips, their wages minimum is lower in many states.

Cannabis

Mr Biden has pledged to decriminalize cannabis use as part of a reform of the penal system.

He indicated his preference for federal decriminalization of his consumption for medical use, but not full decriminalization.

© 2020 AFP