Trump followed through on trade penalties against China, imposing a 10% tax on imports from that country.
White House aides say that tariffs, and Chinese retaliations, are not the start of a trade war because Trump’s executive orders said the taxes were meant to force countries to address drug smuggling and, in the case of Canada and Mexico, illegal immigration.
Still, Trump asserted that he wants to fix the trade imbalance as part of the negotiations with Canada and Mexico. Trump posted on his social media site regarding Canada that the talks should produce “a final Economic deal.”
The White House treated Canada’s decision to create a “fentanyl czar” and Mexico’s deployment of 10,000 National Guard troops to the border as wins for Trump. But by most economic analyses, this was also a near catastrophe averted. The tariffs, if put in place, could increase inflation and subtract from growth.
He hasn’t stopped since inauguration to make America Great. He hagne more than 92 presidential actions, including one marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. He is investigating USAID spending, left the UN, left the WHO, banned transgender from sports protecting girls, and keeps moving forward towards his campaign promises.
With most of the Presidential orders signed at the Oval Office, the President also signs them aboard Air Force One, due to his busy schedule. At times, officials have carted around a mini desk, affixed with the presidential seal, for the signings. Trump has been an example, working hard, and often misunderstood by the leftist who need to constantly criticize his work.
What is to come?
- The Department of Education, which became a Cabinet agency in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter, has been a concern to the Trump Administration. The President’s aides have prepared an executive order that would limit if not effectively shut down the department.
- Trump seeks tighter restrictions on abortion pills, demand for which rose after Trump’s election. The document says the administration should revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medication abortion drugs. But if not, a series of very tight measures to permite use, would be created. Project 2025 also calls to codify into law the Hyde and Weldon amendments, budget measures used to limit the use of federal money for abortion-related services. Dave Weldon, a former Republican lawmaker who sponsored the Weldon amendment, has been nominated to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Trump promised universal school choice ” – meaning to use the power of the federal government to implement private school tuition subsidies – and “end teacher tenure,” job protections usually defined at the state level. He also declared that parents of school children should be able to hire and fire principals, decisions typically made by local school superintendents and school boards. Not yet addressed
- Trump proposed taking over the independent accreditation process for higher education institutions. Taking action towards higher education endowments, promising to collect from schools via “taxing, fining and suing excessively large private university endowments” at schools that do not comply with the rules, like his crackdowns on diversity initiatives.
- To exempt tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay from income taxes.
- Trump always wanted to settle the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia’s invasion and the Israel-Hamas war spawned by Hamas’ slaughter of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
- The Trump transition team helped negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But there is no permanent peace accord in place. Still to be addressed.
- President Trump recently suggested that Ukraine should reimburse the U.S. with access to its rare earth minerals as part of an agreement to continue military support against the Russian invasion.
source AP/Reuters