Donald Trump’s Day 1: The president may not need Congress for 3 key promises

President-elect Donald Trump may be able to push through three major campaign promises on mass deportations, tariffs and the war in Ukraine without a congressional hearing on his first day back in the Oval Office.

Trump, who served as the 45th president of the United States, will take office again as the 47th president in January after winning the 2024 election.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to implement mass deportations, impose tariffs and resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict, policy areas where he could issue executive orders. them. An executive order is an order from the president that does not require approval from Congress.

David Lublin, chairman of the government department at American University, said Newsweek In a phone call on Wednesday that Trump “could issue executive orders in many areas, we’ll have to see how far he wants to go.”

“In the country of administration, there is a lot of room, and sometimes it depends on what the courts are willing to support and sometimes not,” he said. “Some of these things are close to the boundaries of what you would need to change in the law, and in the executive orders.”

Newsweek reached the Trump campaign for comment by email on Wednesday.

Fees

Trump has proposed imposing tariffs of between 10 and 20 percent on imports, noting as high as 60 percent on imports from China. At one point on the campaign trail in October, he proposed imposing tariffs as high as 200 percent on cars from Mexico, a major US trading partner.

He said the tariffs will force companies to build more factories in America, which will increase jobs. However, economists said Newsweek that tariffs would lead to higher prices for American consumers. Mark Shanahan, an expert on US politics at the University of Surrey in the UK, said earlier Newsweek that regarding tariffs, “it is the American consumer who will bear the cost.”

In 2018, Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum without Congressional approval, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Although the Constitution gives Congress the power to pass tariffs, Section 232 “gives the President the power to change tariffs on foreign goods that threaten to harm US national security,” according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

While it’s not immediately clear under what authority President Trump’s interest rates will be lowered, “presidents have nothing to show that they’re somehow better off borrowing from the same pool and using it.” to something else, sometimes they leave it for a while,” Lublin. said.

Mass Expulsion

Trump called it “the largest mass deportation program in history.” The removal of undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been in the United States for decades, has been a cornerstone of the presidential candidate’s platform, with the promise that November 5 will be “freedom day” in depart from previous border policies.

An analysis by the US Immigration Service showed that Mexicans are the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the US at more than 4.7 million. The estimated cost of removing all Mexicans from the country without legal status was $7.3 billion.

It’s unclear how Trump’s strategy will work, but there are other powerful presidential options he could explore. It is possible that he could make many administrative orders on that matter.

For example, temporary protected status (TPS) allows immigrants to live and work legally in the United States and can be extended or reduced under the system. Under the Biden administration, it has increased significantly, and is expected to decrease under the second Trump administration.

Ukraine

Shortly after Trump was announced as the winner, Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said Fox News that Trump will now be able to “negotiate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.” Leavitt later said, “It includes, on Day 1, bringing Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table to end this war.”

Trump said during his campaign that he “will not give a penny to Ukraine” and would stop the export.