Even before Trump’s inauguration, experts agreed that all the actions of the newly elected US President in his first days in office would have symbolic significance for both the country’s domestic and foreign policy. And so it turned out: despite the presence of intricate contradictions, Trump has already managed to demonstrate to the world the seriousness of his intentions. And the power of the United States. New import tariffs, the fight against migration, the rejection of climate agreements and the further staffing of his administration with employees loyal to his ideological ideology are what Trump will continue to do in the next four years.
Tariffs on imported goods and a cryptocurrency reserve
Trade is one of the key areas to which Trump pays a lot of attention. He proposed introducing 10% tariffs on everything imported into the United States; Mexico, Canada and China — the country’s largest trading partners — risk being subject to even higher tariffs. At the same time, today, March 17, Trump said that he does not plan to create exceptions in tariffs on steel and aluminum, and also confirmed that mutual and sectoral duties will be introduced in early April in parallel with duties on cars. In turn, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggests that after the US introduces tariffs against its main trading partners, they may begin bilateral negotiations with countries on new trade agreements.
Trump also plans to create a bitcoin reserve: he has already signed an executive order to create a strategic bitcoin reserve and separate it from other digital assets. In this way, the president tried to enlist support before the cryptocurrency event held on Friday at the White House. According to the executive order, the US will stop selling confiscated bitcoins and will develop a strategy for their accumulation, but without additional costs for taxpayers. Altcoins (Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Cardano, etc.) will go to a separate fund, but the state will not buy them. Of course, this will have an impact on crypto exchanges in the coming years, especially those involved in illegal activities: they will now be under increasing risk of asset confiscation.
The climate issue is also turbulent: let us recall that during his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, which was designed to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change. Biden reversed this decision and joined the agreement on his first day in office. Now the situation is turning around again: a few hours after his inauguration, Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the climate agreement and the WHO. In the near future, we will see an increase in crude oil production, and, probably, a shift in priority from green energy projects to classic energy sources.
Migration policy and the announcement of mass deportations
Immigration and mass deportations will be a global aspect of Trump’s presidency, and this is absolutely not surprising, since in his first term he wanted to build a wall between Mexico and the United States and make Mexico pay for it. Let us recall that at that time Trump demanded that $5.7 billion be allocated for this project; Democrats in Congress refused to finance the construction and rejected his proposals even before the president’s speech. Now the situation is changing: in early March of this year, US Vice President JD Vance said that Trump plans to complete the planned wall project on the border between the United States and Mexico by the end of his presidential term — by 2029.
At the same time, Vance said that the Trump administration is also considering the use of various technologies during construction, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI). For example, AI cameras can be installed to recognize a person approaching the border. We can assume that businessman and Trump’s ally, and now his political special employee Elon Musk, will participate in the development.
For those who entered the country illegally, Trump promises to carry out the largest mass deportation in history, focusing first on criminals and then moving on to other illegal immigrants. In addition to fighting illegal immigration, the US president will continue to slow down legal immigration, including making it more difficult and expensive to obtain work permits, green cards and visas. The White House has already suspended immigration programs, in particular Uniting for Ukraine for Ukrainians. As of now, more than 150,000 Ukrainian refugees who entered the country under this program are living in the United States. For now, they are allowed to stay, but the country will not accept new refugees.
Of course, Trump will not remain indifferent to the issue of bringing the ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian war closer. After holding talks between US and Russian representatives in Moscow (which the US president called very productive), Trump said he plans to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow about ending the war in Ukraine. There is every reason to believe that Trump will go down in history as the president of another country that managed to stop a large-scale war in Ukraine. Even despite the insufficient efforts of the Ukrainian authorities.
