During a final meeting on the eve of his inauguration, which will take place this Monday, January 20, Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to act “with unprecedented speed and force” once returned to power. Immigration, rights of transgender people, environment, international trade, Ukraine… The Republican plans to implement a slew of measures with the signing of “dozens of decrees” a few hours after taking office with the aim of making “null and void” of numerous measures taken by the Biden administration, reports the American daily, The Washington Post. Overview of promises, often vague, which could damage the country and undermine certain fundamental rights.
Immigration, number one on his list
“As soon as I take the oath of office, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history,” the Republican assured 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 notably declare, as of Monday, a state of emergency at the border with Mexico. According to estimates, around 11 million people are undocumented 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 people exiled from Haiti , Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. However, Donald Trump does not have a completely free hand: land rights are, for example, guaranteed by the Constitution, and any eviction program could come up against legal challenges.
Save TikTok
Amid cheers, Donald Trump deemed it necessary on Sunday to “save TikTok”, a few hours after promising to suspend the application of the law banning the social network, which was inaccessible for a few hours over the weekend.
As the Chinese social app fights a federal law that bans it in the United States unless it is sold, it publicly thanked the new president directly on its app so its 170 million American users can see it: “Thanks to the efforts of President Trump, TikTok is back in the United States!”, we read on Sunday. The social network’s chief executive, Shou Chew, also visited Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and was invited to sit in a position of honor on the dais during his inauguration on Monday.
Customs taxes
“On January 20, for one of my many first decrees, 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 and allied countries, to which Washington is linked by a free trade agreement, realistic or is it a bluff before negotiating, just like the provocations to repetition on an annexation of Canada?
The former real estate tycoon justifies this project as a retaliatory measure against the entry into the United States of drugs and illegal migrants. At the same time, the president-elect also threatened the great Chinese rival with an increase in customs taxes of 10%, adding 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, and nearly 1,270 people were convicted. He has long said 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 the next day.
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.
“A fundamental question being asked around the world is whether he will repeat the unpredictable and chaotic approach to foreign policy that defined his first term or whether he will embrace the idea he has repeatedly emphasized during his campaign of peace through force'”, underlines a columnist of the New York Times.
The climate, far from being a priority
“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.
An attack on minorities
“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 transgender people” from the army and schools. He repeated on Sunday that he wanted to put an end to the “‘woke’ ideologies of the radical left”.