Welcome to a new US and global world. I emphasise that today’s commentary is neither a prediction nor an expression of Trump favouritism, but rather an alert to what will happen.
Last month, I highlighted that the decision of billionaire Charles Koch and his friends to back Nikki Haley gave her a real chance, but her campaign promises Trump policies “without the chaos” which means that most of Trump’s proposals will be embraced by Haley.
Accordingly, I have select 12 clear strategies that Trump has enunciated to prepare my readers for what will happen if either Trump or Haley beat Joe Biden.
Unlike his previous presidency, this time, Trump and his close advisers have mapped out exactly how they will implement their policies quickly and swiftly. Most of the commentary has concentrated on Trump’s court battles. It’s time to look at the policies:
1. Trump aims for the US to have the lowest-cost energy and electricity of any nation in the world, including China, by reversing the Biden carbon policies. He will ramp up oil drilling on public lands; and offer tax breaks to oil, gas, and coal producers; roll back current efforts to encourage the adoption of electric cars; and reverse the proposed pollution limits that would require at least 54 per cent of new vehicles sold in the US to be electric by 2030.
That will make Australia out of step with the US, and it means that the world is going to reduce carbon emissions at a much slower pace. We will need to take that into consideration in our policies.
2. He will impose a new so-called universal baseline tariff, which will trigger a tax on “most imported goods.” He will also impose the same tariffs that other countries may impose on the US. These measures will raise costs for US consumers and for manufacturers that buy foreign goods. Many countries will retaliate and impose carbon taxes on US goods. Trump policies will test our free trade agreement.
3. Trump will use the tariff revenues to lower income taxes.
4. Trump will conduct tenders for 10 new “Freedom Cities” on federal land. The winners will have the best development proposals to “reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and hardworking families, a new shot at homeownership and the American Dream.”
Trump says the “Freedom Cities” will enable the return of US manufacturing, economic opportunity, new industries and affordable living.
5. Trump has a four-year plan to phase in a ban on importing key categories of Chinese-made goods like electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals. He will enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of assets in the US and stop the investment of US companies in China.
6. Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act at the southern border and use soldiers as immigration agents. He will tighten the border with an unprecedented assault on immigration. Millions of undocumented immigrants will be barred from the country. Others will be evicted after years or even decades of US residency.
7. Trump intends to unilaterally send troops into Democratic states that house cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, which he calls “crime dens”. “We cannot let it happen any longer in Democrat states”, he says.
8. Trump says: “The drug cartels are waging war on America — and it’s now time for America to wage war on the cartels.” Congress will be asked to ensure that drug smugglers and human traffickers can receive the death penalty for their “heinous acts.” Trump will impose naval embargoes on cartels, cutting off cartels’ access to global financial systems and using special defence powers to damage the cartels’ leadership.
9. In education, Trump says: “When I am President, we will put parents back in charge and give them the final say,”
Trump will give funding preferences and “favourable treatment” to schools that allow parents to elect principals, abolish teacher tenure for K-12 teachers, use merit pay to incentivise quality teaching and cut the number of school administrators, such as those overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Trump will cut funding for schools that teach critical race theory and gender ideology. He brings back the teaching of “our values and promote our history and our traditions to our children.”
10. Trump says he will “revoke every Biden policy promoting the chemical castration and sexual mutilation of our youth and ask congress to send me a bill prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states”. His administration will not allow hospitals and healthcare providers that provide chemical or physical gender-affirming care to young people to meet the federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare.
Trump will issue an executive order instructing federal agencies to cut programs that promote gender transitions, as well as asking Congress to stop the use of federal dollars to promote and pay for gender-affirming procedures.
11. Trump said he would restore his travel ban on individuals from several majority-Muslim countries to “keep Islamic terrorists out of our country”
12. Trump claims that even before he is inaugurated, he will have settled the war between Russia and Ukraine. That includes ending the “endless flow of American treasure to Ukraine” and asking European allies to reimburse the US for the cost of rebuilding stockpiles. He will “fundamentally reevaluate” NATO’s purpose and mission.
It is unclear whether he would insist that Russia withdraw from territory in Ukraine it seized in the war that it launched in February 2022.
Trump has said he will stand with Israel in its war with Hamas and support Israel’s efforts to “destroy” the militant group. At this stage, his Taiwan policies are unclear.
We will be dealing with a very different US. Many Australians will want Australia to follow Trump in some policies.
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Fast-forward to January 20, 2025 and the sixtieth American Presidential inauguration ceremony. Donald Trump becomes President of the United States of America.