According to his campaign promises and his recent declarations, the American president-elect plans to adopt a certain number of shocking, even controversial, measures as soon as he arrives at the White House. Overview of these announcements.
Immigration, transgender rights, environment, international trade, Ukraine… Donald Trump promised, upon his return to the White House, a slew of measures, which will often be taken by executive decrees. Radical decisions which will immediately test its institutional room for maneuver.
Immigration
«As soon as I am sworn in, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history“, assured the Republican during his campaign.
The elected president also wants, from day one, to put an end to land law, which he considers “ridicule“. It is estimated that approximately 11 million people reside illegally in the United States. To take action, Donald Trump wants to declare a national state of emergency and call in the military.
The President of the United States can make certain decisions immediately by simple executive order – experts expect him to remove an app used by asylum seekers, or a program specifically designed for migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
But his power has limits. The right to land is, for example, guaranteed by the Constitution, and any expulsion program could come up against legal recourse, as well as the refusal of certain countries to welcome their nationals.
Customs taxes
«On January 20, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to impose 25% tariffs on ALL products entering the United States on Mexico and Canada», Announced Donald Trump at the end of November.
Is this threat of a trade war with neighboring countries, to which Washington is linked by a free trade agreement, realistic or is it a bluff before negotiating, just like the repeated provocations on a annexation of Canada? Donald Trump justifies this project as a retaliatory measure against the entry into the United States of drugs and illegal migrants.
Another country in the viewfinder, the great Chinese rival. The elected president threatened Beijing with an increase in customs taxes of 10%, in addition to those, on certain products, already imposed during his first term.
-Pardon those convicted of January 6?
On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory. More than 1,500 people have been charged and 1,270 convicted, some still awaiting sentencing, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice.
The president-elect recently repeated that he would take a pardon measure “majeure» for those he calls “hostages“, but a certain ambiguity persists over the fate of people convicted of violence against police officers.
Wars and diplomacy
Before the agreement between Israel and Hamas announced on Wednesday, the president-elect said that the Palestinian Islamist movement would experience a “hell» if he did not release the hostages held in Gaza. He also promised unfailing support for Israel in a conflict that has lasted for fifteen months. But he did not specify what exactly he meant by that.
Donald Trump also wants to end the war in Ukraine, triggered in February 2022 by the Russian invasion, according to a timetable that fluctuates. After having spoken of ending hostilities in 24 hours, he more recently spoke of a six-month horizon.
Climate
«Drill baby, drill»: the pro-oil drilling slogan was repeated over and over again by Donald Trump, a climate skeptic who wants to boost the extraction of fossil fuels from January 20. For example, he assured that he would cancel “immediately» a recent decision by Joe Biden consisting of a broad ban on “offshore” hydrocarbon exploitation. Not sure he can do it without going through Congress.
The Republican also expressed his strong opposition to electric vehicles, despite his alliance with Elon Musk, boss of Tesla.
Transgender and anti-racism
«With a simple stroke of a pen, from day one, we will put an end to transgender madness», assured the president-elect, who promised to “exclude transgender people» of the army and schools. “The official policy of the United States will be that there are only two genders, male and female“, he said.
Donald Trump also promised to cut all federal funding from schools that adopted the “critical race theory“. This concept, which initially designates a stream of research, is used in a pejorative manner by conservatives to denounce the teachings of awareness of racism.
