US President-elect Donald Trump during a MAGA victory rally in Washington, on the eve of his inauguration, January 19, 2025 (AFP / Jim WATSON)
Immigration, rights of transgender people, environment, international trade, Ukraine… Donald Trump promised, upon his return to the White House, a slew of measures, which will often be taken by decree.
Radical decisions which will immediately test its institutional room for maneuver. Overview of sometimes vague but always spectacular promises.
Immigration
“As soon as I take the oath, 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 “ridiculous”. According to the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump will declare a state of emergency at the border with Mexico on Monday.
According to estimates, approximately 11 million people reside illegally in the United States.
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, from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
But his power has limits. Land rights are, for example, guaranteed by the Constitution, and any eviction program could come up against legal recourse.
Customs taxes
“On January 20, for one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all the necessary documents to impose 25% customs duties on Mexico and Canada on ALL products entering the United States,” announced at the end of November Donald Trump.
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.
The elected president also threatened the great Chinese rival with an increase in customs taxes of 10%, in addition to those, on certain products, already imposed during his first mandate.
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, and nearly 1,270 people were convicted.
He has been repeating for a long time that he could decide to pardon him and, at a meeting on Sunday, Donald Trump assured his supporters that they would be “very happy” with the decision he would take on the matter on Monday.
Wars and diplomacy
Before the agreement between Israel and Hamas announced on Wednesday, the president-elect said that the Palestinian Islamist movement would experience “hell” if it did not release the hostages held in Gaza. He also promised unwavering support for Israel in a conflict that has lasted 15 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 “immediately” cancel a recent decision by Joe Biden consisting of a broad ban on the exploitation of hydrocarbons at sea. Not sure that he could do this 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 the pen, from day one, we will put an end to the transgender madness,” recently assured the president-elect, who promised to “exclude transgenders” from the army and schools.
He repeated on Sunday that he wanted to put an end to the “woke+ ideologies of the radical left”.
