New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) The series of directives issued by President Donald Trump within hours of his swearing-in was — as expected — unambiguous, assertive and geopolitically important. They seemingly confirmed that the new US President was determined to take complete control of the governance, bring the ‘America First’ call into play and give priority to building the economic strength of the US to fulfil that mandate.
The first of the ten executive orders signed by him even before moving to the Oval Office suspended 78 notifications issued by the Biden Presidency. His directives included a freeze on the hiring of Federal employees except for the military, immigration control, national security and public safety, stoppage of issue of any further notifications by Federal officials and restoration of complete freedom of speech, ending the ‘weaponisation’ of the instruments of governance in the previous regime.
There was also the declaration of withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty to save American aid of $3 billion given annually to the climate fund. This and the pull-out from the WHO that would deprive the UN agency of the annual US contribution of $130 million will have international repercussions. Trump’s long-held antipathy towards WHO is rooted in his perception that the UN agency was influenced by China, which was responsible for Covid 19 virus, and that WHO had mishandled the pandemic.
Trump’s announced mission of ‘Making America Great Again’ seems to be the prompt behind many of these early declarations in the spheres of foreign policy, domestic handling of inflation and unemployment, as well as of economy and trade. President Trump, in his second innings, is driven by a desire to transform the US and leave behind a legacy of decision-making that no other President could measure up to.
The first directives signed by Trump covered matters ranging from the security of borders to the thrust on bringing the governance totally under the President’s control. He terminated all arrangements of remote functioning for federal employees and ordered their return to In-Person work. He asked for a plan for downsizing the Federal government’s workforce through improvement of efficiency and attrition.
At the same time, he directed executive departments and agencies to implement ’emergency price relief measures’ to lower the cost of housing, health care, food and fuel and also create employment opportunities.
In an extraordinary executive order, President Trump renamed the US Digital Service as the Department of Government Efficiency(DOGE) and proposed to place it under Elon Musk for maximising the government’s ‘efficiency and productivity’. Trump has directed his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, to implement the ‘America First’ foreign policy, in which the US and US citizens will be the sole priority.
He ordered the rechristening of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and the return of the name of Denali, the highest peak in North America, to the former Mount McKinley-named after the 25th President of the US in the 19th century. At home, the new President has called for tightening immigration laws, interestingly, the concerned directive captioned ‘Protecting the American people against Invasion’ introduces a slew of policies aimed at curbing immigration.
Trump, in fact, declared a ‘national emergency’ for checking immigration and directed military personnel to help secure the southern border through the use of additional physical barriers as well as drones. The Homeland Security Secretary has been asked by Trump to establish Homeland Security Task Forces in all states to assist in the faithful execution of immigration laws.
In another directive, Trump has ended birthright citizenship for children born in the US to immigrant parents who were in the country illegally as well as those born to parents who were there on a temporary basis. He has threatened mass deportations of illegal migrants including those whose birthright citizenship was revoked.
President Trump has designated some of the Drug cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’ on the grounds that they had engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the hemisphere and flooded the US with crime thus posing a security risk to the country. Designation of cartels as ‘foreign terrorist organisations’ could facilitate military action against targets in Mexico and other countries. Trump’s focus on the challenge of countering terrorism will be appreciated by India.
In an executive order, the new President has put curbs on visa seekers from certain countries to protect the US from potential foreign terrorists. Vetting and screening will be intensified in regard to visa applicants from ‘regions and nations with identified security risks’.
Trump has restored the death penalty in the interest of ‘public safety’ and asked the Attorney General to pursue cases of the death penalty for all capital crimes. Moreover, Trump has termed the Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity(DEI) programmes of the Biden Administration as ‘radical’ and ‘wasteful’ and emphasised that there should be prioritisation of ‘merit’ and ‘skill’ in hiring. He rescinded a Biden executive order that enabled the Presidency to hire and fire federal civil servants with an eye on ‘loyalty’ and ordained that the employees should faithfully implement the administration’s policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their Constitutional oath.
Trump is not taken in by the rhetoric of liberal values and he has firmly rejected ‘gender identity politics’ and the ‘diversity’ regulations earlier mentioned and has shown no flair for promoting human rights globally. The policy of the Trump Administration is to recognise two sexes– male and female –and consequently, the Federal government will henceforth use the word ‘sex’ not ‘gender’.
In line with the ‘America First’ doctrine, Trump has declared a ‘National energy emergency’ that calls for a review of all obstacles to the creation of domestic energy infrastructure resulting from legal impediments such as the Endangered Species Act. He has paused all federal Wind Energy projects, rejected the concept of renewable energy and endorsed the revival of the oil and natural gas industry. Significantly, Trump has talked of the ‘America First Trade Policy’ calling for immediate examination of the ‘unfair and unbalanced trade with all countries including China’.
Some of the orders issued by President Trump are clearly beneficial for him at the personal level. In what was clearly anticipated, Trump granted pardons and commutation of sentences for offences relating to the events at or near the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He also ordered the dismissal of all pending indictments related to January 6. The sweeping clemency directive covered more than 1500 defendants-Trump alleging that there was political vendetta behind these cases.
Trump ordered flags to be flown at full mast on Presidential inauguration days annulling the Biden Administration’s directive for a month-long mourning for Jimmy Carter former US President that would have covered President Trump’s swearing-in event.
The Trump directive to keep the popular China-owned TikTok operational temporarily was meant to delay the execution of a law that had shut down the social media platform on national security grounds — unless it was sold to an American — and fixed Sunday, January 19 as the deadline for this. Trump has declared that he was open to Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, buying TikTok — this will be a good business venture for Musk and a great source of political support for the new President.
Targeting the DeepState, Trump signed an order ending the ‘weaponisation of government’ against political opponents and directed the Attorney General to investigate the Biden regime’s misuse of the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC). US Supreme Court is said to have a preponderance of conservative justices presently and it had recently ruled that Presidents are broadly immune from prosecution for any official actions taken during their term. This should be a comforting situation for Trump.
The policy framework of President Donald Trump is still unfolding but their invoking of ‘America First’ by him had already found an expression in foreign policy, trade tariff and national security perspectives defined by him. He is being very vocal about his intention of transforming the country’s systems to ‘Make America Great Again’.
India would find itself on the same side of the fence as President Trump on the issue of global terror and its faith-based origins, which had led the new President to call for special watch on the visa applicants from certain ‘nations and regions’.
Trump is circumspect about projecting American political strength or its military might as a Superpower, and his thrust on growth through economic advancement was clearly in evidence. However, the President did make mention of China more than once — on an adversarial note. Apart from the fact that he made a specific reference only to China in the context of a ‘review of trade imbalances with all countries’, the new President forthrightly blamed China for dominating WHO and causing the COVID-19 pandemic and, in his inaugural speech, justified the decision of US to ‘take back’ Panama Canal because China was deriving an unfair strategic advantage through its use.
Apart from Trump’s stand against global terror, his policy towards China would facilitate Indo-US friendship. Trump seems to discount Human Rights campaigns on social media while favouring a peaceful world order. His past record of friendship with President Putin of Russia and a lack of enthusiasm for the European Union as such, and his full support to Israel against the violence of Hamas might have a moderating effect on the Ukraine-Russia ‘war’ on one hand and help the process of release of hostages by both Hamas and Israel, on the other.
India should have a cautious approach to the ‘America First’ call and Trump’s handling of tariffs, immigration and security of borders particularly after his declaration that “we will forge a society that is colour blind and merit-based.” India is a major power in a multipolar world order and is a votary of global peace, fairness in international trade and bilateral relations based on mutual security and economic interests. It can deal with Trump’s Presidency on merit, too.
(The writer is a former Director Intelligence Bureau)
–IANS
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