Donald Trump.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Donald Trump plans to deport millions of migrants, reshape global trade with expensive tariffs and fill the government with loyalists if he wins a second four-year White House term in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Here is a look at some of the policies Trump has pledged to institute:
Trade
Trump, a Republican, has floated the idea of a 10 per cent or more tariff on all goods imported into the US, a move he says would eliminate the trade deficit, but critics say would lead to higher prices for American consumers and global economic instability. He has said he should have the authority to set higher tariffs on countries that have put tariffs on American imports. He has threatened to impose a 200 per cent tariff on some imported cars.
Trump has targeted China in particular. He proposes phasing out Chinese imports of goods such as electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals over four years. He seeks to prohibit Chinese companies from owning US real estate and infrastructure in the energy and tech sectors.
Federal bureaucracy
Trump would seek to decimate what he terms the "deep state" – career federal employees he says are clandestinely pursuing their own agendas – through an executive order that would reclassify thousands of workers to enable them to be fired. That would likely be challenged in court. He has vowed to fire what he terms corrupt actors in national security positions and "root out" political opponents.
Trump has said he would require every federal employee to pass a new civil service test of his own creation, though his practical authorities to do so are limited. Close allies are also vetting scores of potential hires who could be counted on to implement his policies, and Trump has suggested they must adhere to his belief that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Trump would set up an independent government efficiency panel headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk to root out waste in the federal government. He has not detailed how the body would function but said it would develop a plan to root out "fraud and improper payments" within six months of being formed.
He would crack down on federal whistleblowers who are typically shielded by law and would institute an independent body to monitor US intelligence agencies.
Investing enemies
Trump has pledged at times to use federal law enforcement agencies to investigate his political foes, including election officials, lawyers and party donors. He has warned of the danger posed by an "enemy from within" in a reference to his opponents and called them "evil." Trump has said he will consider appointing a special prosecutor to probe Democratic President Joe Biden, though he has not specified the grounds for such an investigation.
He has said the Justice Department would investigate district attorneys on novel civil rights grounds, arguing that some local prosecutors are engaging in an unconstitutional form of selective enforcement.
And he has said he would consider firing a US attorney who did not follow his directives - which would constitute a break with the longstanding US policy of an independent federal law enforcement apparatus. Trump's allies are developing a plan that would curtail the Justice Department's independence and pack its ranks with more political appointees loyal to the president.
Energy
Trump pledged to issue a national emergency declaration to boost domestic energy supply by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles holding up new energy projects.
Trump has vowed to increase US production of fossil fuels by easing the permitting process for drilling on federal land and would encourage new natural gas pipelines. He has said he would reauthorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
He has said he will again pull the US out of the Paris Climate Accords, a framework for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, and would support increased nuclear energy production. He would also roll back Biden's electric-vehicle mandates and other policies to reduce auto emissions.
Economy
Along with his trade and energy agendas, Trump has promised to slash federal regulations that he says limit job creation. He has pledged to keep in place a broad 2017 tax cut that he signed while in office, and his economic team has discussed a further round of individual and corporate tax cuts beyond those enacted in his first term.
Trump has pledged to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 15 per cent for companies that make their products in the US Trump has offered a blizzard of tax proposals, including ending the taxation of tips paid to service workers.
He has promised to create a US "sovereign wealth fund" that would invest in large projects such as highways and airports.
He has pledged not to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits or raise the eligibility age.
Trump has said he will end Democrats’ efforts to regulate crypto and will defend the right to mine bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency. For many US voters, the economy is personal and they blame Democrats.
Immigration
Trump has vowed to reinstate his first-term policies targeting illegal border crossings, roll back Biden's immigration measures and forge ahead with sweeping new restrictions.
Trump has pledged to limit access to asylum at the US-Mexico border and embark on the biggest deportation effort in American history, which would likely trigger legal challenges and opposition from Democrats in Congress.
He has said he will employ the National Guard and, if necessary, federal troops, to achieve his objective, and he has not ruled out setting up internment camps to process people for deportation.
Trump has said he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born to immigrants, a move that would run against the long-running interpretation of the US Constitution.
He says he will reinstitute a so-called travel ban that restricts entry into the United States of people from a list of largely Muslim-dominant countries.
Abortion
Trump appointed three justices to the US Supreme Court who were part of the 6-3 majority vote that did away with constitutional protection for abortion. He likely would continue to appoint federal judges who would uphold abortion limits.
At the same time, he has said a federal abortion ban is unnecessary and that the issue should be resolved at the state level. He has argued a six-week ban favored by some Republicans is overly harsh and that any legislation should include exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.
Even so, Trump has said that states, if they choose, could monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute them if they undergo the procedure beyond the period permitted. Trump has suggested that he would not seek to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone after the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the government's approach to regulating it.
He supports policies that advance IVF, birth control and pre-natal care.
Foreign Affairs
Trump has been critical of US support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if elected, although he has not said how he would do that.
Trump has said that under his presidency, the US would fundamentally rethink NATO's purpose and mission. Though he has put forward few tangible policy proposals, he told Reuters in an interview last year that Ukraine may have to cede some territory to reach a peace agreement.
Trump objected to a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine for months, and some Republicans in Congress refused to back it. Congress finally approved the package in late April, and Trump has since suggested Ukraine's security is an important US interest.
Trump has supported Israel in its fight against Hamas and recently held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has said the conflict should end quickly but has offered no proposals for doing that or said whether he would differ from the Biden administration's domestically controversial policy of arming Israel.
On the campaign trail, he has also floated sending armed forces into Mexico to battle drug cartels and using the US Navy to form a blockade to stop the smuggling of fentanyl and its precursors. Trump has suggested building an "iron dome" - a massive missile-defense shield - over the entire continental United States, which would be massively expensive and logistically difficult.
Crime
Trump says he would institute the death penalty for human traffickers and drug dealers. He says he does not believe federal statistics that show violent crime dropping in US cities. He has said he will consider pardoning all of those who have been convicted of crimes in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Housing
Trump has pledged to open up portions of federal land for large-scale housing construction, with zones that will be "ultra low-tax and ultra low-regulation."