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Donald Trump has ushered in an era of upheaval for the global economy by threatening new tariffs against U.S. allies and taking steps to dismantle Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign policy agenda just hours after returning to the White House.
In wide-ranging comments to reporters in the Oval Office Monday night: Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico as early as February 1st Currencies of the countries and pushed US stock futures lower.
The newly crowned 47th US President also threatened to do so Imposing duties on Chinese imports of up to 100 percent if Beijing cannot agree on a deal to sell at least 50 percent of the TikTok app to a US company, and tariffs on EU products unless they stop buying American oil.
The comments and shock to global markets were another reminder of Trump’s willingness to upend the global order and engage in high-risk negotiations to impose America’s will on key trading partners.
The Oval Office remarks came just hours after Trump promised an end to America’s “decline” and the start of a new one in his inaugural address “golden age” based on a dramatic reversal of the Biden administration’s progressive agenda.
The 78-year-old president quickly announced aggressive new steps to boost fossil fuel production, deport immigrants and implement the populist and nationalist agenda that brought him victory in the race for the White House last year.
He repealed dozens of Biden’s executive orders related to everything from promoting racial justice and sanctioning extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank to strengthening Medicaid and promoting access to voting.
The sweeping overhaul included the U.S. withdrawing again from the Paris climate pact and represented a statement of intent from the world’s most prominent right-wing politician, who was elected after promising to reverse the Biden administration’s agenda.
Trump also announced that he would pardon people convicted of participating in the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed Congress to violently prevent the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The pardons of the rioters recalled the remarkable return of Trump himself, who won last year’s election despite being the first president convicted of a crime and after two assassination attempts against him.
Trump’s trade bluster grew throughout the day. In his inaugural address, Trump suggested that levies were his preferred tool of international economic diplomacy and were critical to increasing U.S. revenues, while ignoring their potential to raise prices for American consumers.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tax and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said.
Trump said a plan to impose a universal tariff on all imports – a measure he touted during his campaign – remained on the table.
Trump spoke in the Oval Office surrounded by key advisers including chief of staff Susie Wiles, policy chief Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro, his top White House adviser on trade and manufacturing policy.
In a sign that suppressing immigration remains a domestic policy priority, Trump also signed a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and took steps to restrict birthright rights for those undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil were born.
“This is a big deal. . . “We are the only country in the world that does this with birthright,” he said, although dozens of other nations allow the right.
Trump’s move will almost certainly be challenged in court as it violates the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
The president also directed the Pentagon to develop a plan to station troops on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump also referred to drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Sending U.S. special forces into Mexico to take them out “could happen.” Stranger things have happened,” he added.
Trump would not say whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin raids in major cities on Tuesday to detain illegal migrants. “I don’t want to say when, but it will happen, it has to happen, otherwise we won’t have a country.”
Among his foreign policy promises, Trump said the U.S. would regain control of the Panama Canal and build “the strongest military the world has ever seen,” even as he vowed to end wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as a “peacemaker.” .
