Barely invested, Trump makes his first shock announcements

State of emergency at the border with Mexico, withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and the WHO, pardons for hundreds of Capitol attackers: barely inaugurated as President of the United States, Donald Trump signed a shower of decrees Monday in Washington.

Some of these spectacular measures may nevertheless be difficult to implement and promise strong challenges in court. Some even appear to violate the US Constitution.

Offensive anti-immigration

Promised, Donald Trump’s vast anti-immigration offensive took shape in his midday inauguration speech. “All illegal entries will be immediately stopped and we will begin sending millions and millions of criminal aliens back to where they came from,” insisted the Republican president.

“I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.” In the evening, he signed the decree at the White House declaring a state of emergency at the border with Mexico.

Donald Trump also intends to attack the right to asylum and land rights. First concrete effect from Monday: the asylum request platform launched by the former government stopped working. “Existing appointments have been canceled,” the service indicates on its online site.

Climate and WHO

The withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement is underway: Donald Trump staged it by making it one of his first signed decrees, on a desk installed on the very stage of the great hall of Washington in which some 20,000 of his supporters gathered.

This measure, coming from the second largest polluter in the world behind China, endangers global efforts to combat climate change. It should be effective within a year. The United States had already briefly left the international agreement during the first mandate of the American billionaire, before former American President Joe Biden marked their return.

Donald Trump, notoriously climate skeptic, also signed a decree declaring a “state of energy emergency” to boost hydrocarbon production in the United States. “We will drill at all costs,” he repeated, a formula that became one of his campaign slogans (“We will drill, baby, drill”).

Another surprise decree: the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). “The WHO has defrauded us,” he said, asserting that the United States’ contribution to the international organization is much more important than that of China.

Panama Canal

“We are going to take back” the Panama Canal, said the new president. Built by the United States, its control was transferred to Panama in 1999, after an agreement concluded in 1977. It is “an insane gift”, criticized Donald Trump.

“The purpose of our agreement and the spirit of our treaty have been totally violated,” he said. “American ships are seriously overtaxed […] And above all, China operates the Panama Canal, and we did not give it to China.

“The canal belongs and will continue to belong to Panama,” replied Panamanian President José Raul Mulino.

On the other territorial subject of the moment, Greenland, of which he wishes to take control, the American president said he was “sure that Denmark will come to terms with the idea” that the United States “needs it for international security.

Capitol Attackers

Mr. Trump also pardoned more than 1,500 participants in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. For the fourteen other people convicted, their sentence is commuted to prison time already served.

“We hope they come out tonight,” Donald Trump said. The proceedings still ongoing against a few hundred people are also canceled.

Customs duties

“We will impose customs duties and taxes on foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” promised the 47th President of the United States in his inauguration speech.

In the Oval Office in the evening, he said he was considering “around 25% on Mexico and Canada”. From when? “February 1,” he estimated. The United States’ closest neighbors are, however, theoretically protected by a free trade agreement signed during his first term.

Genre

Finally, the Republican billionaire wants to “put an end to the transgender delusion”, another of his campaign commitments. “From today, the official policy of the United States government will be to say that there are only two sexes, male and female,” defined at birth, Donald Trump asserted Monday during his inauguration in Washington.

“These sexes cannot be changed and are anchored in a fundamental and incontestable reality,” added a decree published by the White House in the evening, a text which must be applied by all federal agencies.

“Federal funds must not be used to promote gender ideology,” affirms the same decree, which wants to “restore biological truth.” Another text orders the end of all diversity and inclusion programs within the federal government.