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19 Jan 2025 19:39
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  •   Home > News > International

    Here's what Donald Trump says he'll do when he returns to the White House

    Donald Trump is about to walk back into the White House and start ticking off his to-do list. Here's what he has said is on the list.


    Donald Trump's second term as president of the United States is about to begin.

    On Monday, local time, he'll be inaugurated and walk back into the White House.

    And he's indicated he'll immediately begin ticking off his lengthy to-do list.

    Here's some of what Trump and the incoming members of his administration have said we can expect.

    Trump repeatedly asserted on the campaign trail that immigration was the number one issue for voters at the election, over the economy.

    He has long criticised Joe Biden's handling of the US southern border with Mexico, blaming the outgoing president for a record surge in the number of people crossing without authorisation.

    Those figures have since come down substantially, but Trump argues the arrivals amount to an "invasion" of the US.

    He has promised the largest deportation program in US history. In an expansive post-election interview with Time magazine, he said he'll do "whatever it takes to get them out".

    He said that could involve the use of the military and deportation camps. He has also warned other countries to expect economic consequences if they don't accept people who are being returned.

    "If they don't take them back, we won't do business with those countries, and we will tariff those countries very substantially," he said in December.

    US media has reported Trump's team is planning to begin large-scale deportations the day after his inauguration. 

    Up to 200 officers could be sent to Chicago to carry out a major immigration raid on Tuesday. Early deportation operations are also possible in New York and Miami.

    Undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions are expected to be targeted first, including through the use of workplace raids.

    Trump's "border czar", Tom Homan, has said there are likely to be "collateral arrests" — where those without a criminal record are also taken into custody.

    He said family detention would be re-introduced, with undocumented parents to be deported with or without the children they had while they were in the US.

    "You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child," he said. "So you put your family in that position."

    Limited immigration enforcement resources could prove a challenge as Trump looks to implement his plan, as could resistance from Democratic-led states.

    "The most beautiful word in the dictionary," Trump said during the election campaign, "is tariff".

    Many economists disagree with that protectionist take. But Trump wants to use tariffs — that is, taxes imposed on products imported from other countries — to raise revenue, revive local manufacturing and give American companies an advantage.

    "We'll impose new tariffs so that the products on our stores will once again be stamped with those beautiful words 'made in the USA,'" Trump said at a recent press conference.

    He has proposed a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese-made products, and a 10 per cent tariff on products from just about everywhere else.

    He has also threatened to hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs — a move which would likely be economically devastating for these neighbouring countries.

    "Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country," Trump said. "And we're going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada because … they come through Canada too."

    Some wonder if Trump is bluffing about those tariffs to try force Canada and Mexico to comply with his demands.

    "I think he's deadly serious," Trump's former commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, told the ABC. "But it's also possible that if they make enough concessions, he won't go ahead."

    Last week, Trump said he would create an "external revenue service" to collect tariffs. "We will begin charging those that make money off us with trade, and they will start paying, finally, their fair share," he wrote on social media.

    Tariffs have obvious downsides — they push up prices for consumers, and lead to trade wars between trading partners.

    But Ross said while countries hit by tariffs are likely to retaliate, "I don't think it's going to be a big colossal trade war".

    "I just don't think the other countries can afford it," he said.

    Trump has indicated one of his first acts as president could be to pardon people convicted over involvement in the January 6 (J6) riots at the US Capitol.

    "I'll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes," he told Time.

    It builds on his promises during the election campaign.

    "I am inclined to pardon many of them," he told a CNN Town Hall. "I can't say for every single one because a couple of them, probably, they got out of control."

    Trump has called those who stormed the Capitol "patriots" and "hostages" and called January 6 "a day of love".

    But he's deflected on whether he'll pardon anyone who assaulted police.

    "If they're innocent," he said at an event for Black journalists during the campaign trail.

    When the moderator pointed out that they'd been convicted, Trump said: "Well, they were convicted by a very tough system."

    His incoming vice-president, JD Vance, told Fox News this month: "If you protested peacefully on January 6th, and you had Merrick Garland's Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned," he said.

    "If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned. And there's a little bit of a grey area there."

    Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for attorney-general, told her confirmation hearing that she'd look at any pardon applications on a case-by-case basis, if asked — but added that she condemns any violence towards law enforcement.

    Trump has also taken aim at the politicians on the congressional committee that investigated January 6.

    "For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail," Trump said in a post-election interview with Meet the Press.

    He was asked if he would direct his attorney-general or FBI director to send them to jail.

    "No, not at all," he said, but added: "I think they'll have to look at that."

    During last year's election campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to have the war in Ukraine "settled in one day".

    Since his win, the timeline's been changing. "I hope long before six months," he said at a press conference earlier this month.

    A few days later, Trump's designated Ukraine peace envoy produced a new target for a "solution" to the war.

    "I would like to set a goal on a personal level and a professional level," Keith Kellogg told Fox News. "I would say let's set it at 100 days."

    It's not clear what solution would be acceptable to Trump, but he has often talked in terms of making a deal. Ukraine and its backers fear that could mean big concessions to Russia.

    "We're going to have to settle up with Russia — Ukraine, that's a disaster," Trump told his press conference this month, and later added: "A deal could have been made by just an average dealmaker."

    Earlier this week, Reuters reported that two advisors to Trump were working on a peace plan that could include ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine, at least in the foreseeable future, and freezing the current battle lines. It could also see the creation of a demilitarised zone patrolled by European troops.

    Trump and some — though not all — of his Republican allies have been critical of the level of US aid given to Kyiv. Trump also "very vehemently" disagrees with the Biden administration's decision to allow Ukraine to use American long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia.

    "Why are we doing that?" he said in his Time interview. "We're just escalating this war and making it worse."

    Asked at his press conference how soon he expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said: "I don't think it's appropriate that I meet until after the 20th [of January], which I hate because every day … many, many young people are being killed."

    Trump's plans to shrink government and cut spending are ambitious.

    "We're looking to save maybe $2 trillion," he said at his first post-election press conference.

    "It'll have no impact on people," he said. "We will never cut social security or things like that — it's just waste, fraud and abuse."

    Businessman Elon Musk and one-time presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the charge as heads of Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency".

    They've already identified some targets for cuts. In a November Wall St Journal column, they singled out public broadcasting, international organisations, and "progressive groups" like abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

    They've also proposed a "drastic reduction" in regulations to help shrink government and allow for mass firings across its workforce. And they've suggested moving agencies out of Washington, and dumping work-from-home arrangements, to trigger a "wave of voluntary terminations".

    Tweets from DOGE's official X account also suggest it wants to simplify the US tax code, reduce foreign aid, and cut funding and grants for diversity projects.

    But most experts say a $2 trillion cut with "no impact on people" is unrealistic.

    In fiscal year 2023, the federal budget included $6.1 trillion in spending. But almost two-thirds of that was "mandatory" spending on things like social security, which Trump has pledged not to cut.

    Another $900 billion went to defence, and more than $650 billion was interest paid on the national debt, leaving less than $1 trillion in discretionary spending to play with.

    "The basic problem that they have is that they're over-promising," says Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute think tank, who helped drive an efficiency review for the Clinton administration.

    "At first they said they were going to do this in two years, which would have thrown the entire American economy and the world economy into a depression."

    Musk has more recently lowered expectations, describing a $2 trillion cut as the "best-case outcome". "If you try for two trillion you have a good shot at getting one," he said during a slipstream on X with business executive Mark Penn. "That, I think, would be an epic outcome."

    Much to Biden's disgust, Trump is claiming credit for the ceasefire deal that's been struck between Israel and Hamas.

    Biden had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get the deal done for months. Trump then threatened "all hell will break out" if Hamas did not release Israeli hostages by inauguration day, and his chosen Middle East envoy joined the ceasefire negotiations.

    "We have achieved so much without even being in the White House," Trump posted as he announced the deal before the sitting president did.

    In his first term, Trump proposed a Middle East "peace plan". He described it as a "realistic two-state solution" that provided a "win-win opportunity".

    But it favoured Israeli demands and protected Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are deemed illegal under international law. (The Trump administration overturned a longstanding US position that also classified the settlements as illegal.)

    And so while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed the plan, the Palestinians rejected it.

    After last year's election win, Trump told Time "the Middle East is going to get solved" and described it as "easier to solve" than Russia's Ukraine invasion.

    Asked by the magazine if he still supported a two-state solution, he said: "I support whatever solution we can do to get peace."

    "There are other ideas other than two state," he said, "but I support whatever, whatever is necessary to get not just peace, a lasting peace."

    Trump's chosen ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is a supporter of Israeli settlements and was once recorded saying, "there's really no such thing as a Palestinian".

    Trump's foreign policy priorities have taken an abrupt, expansionist turn after his successful election.

    Suddenly, the president-elect has been talking about Greenland and the Panama Canal.

    "We need Greenland for national security purposes," he said in a recent press conference.

    Trump first floated the idea of purchasing Greenland, a Danish territory that hosts a US military base, in his first term.

    He's now also claiming China is controlling the canal's operations (which its administrator has denied) and has said the US is being ripped off by the fees charged to use the canal.

    The Panama Canal was built by the US and transferred to the Latin American nation under president Jimmy Carter; Trump has since claimed it was sold for $1.

    "The Panama Canal is vital to our country," Trump said.

    He was also asked in the same press conference if he'd rule out military or economic force to gain control.

    "No, I can't assure you on either of those two," he said.

    Georgetown University associate professor of government, Hans Noel, says there's some basis for Trump to raise the two issues.

    "Maybe this talk of taking back (the canal) is a tactic to try and negotiate more favourable terms," he told the ABC.

    "Greenland is a little bit harder to parse, but there are strategic reasons why it makes sense for the United States to have a military presence.

    "I think a lot of what Trump does, he throws stuff up and sees what sticks … but there was a reason he threw these particular things up at the wall."

    As a sideline, Trump has been joking that Canada should become "the 51st state" of the US, calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the "governor".

    "I think it's reasonable to say… that's trolling," Noel says. "He's not serious about that."

    — with

    © 2025 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

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