United States President Donald Trump took office for the second time, being sworn in and delivering his inaugural address Monday.
Trump’s inauguration ushers in an era of change, not only for Americans, but also for the international community. While International Insight has previously examined what Trump’s plans on a global scale could be, these past few days have redefined what the next four years are going to look like in a geopolitical context.
Tariffs –
Tariffs were a key part of Trump’s foreign policy from the start. On Monday, the president specified that he intended to levy serious tariffs on the European Union and stated that he was considering a 10% duty on China due to the Asian nations alleged exports of fentanyl to the United States via Canada and Mexico.
Trump also mentioned that he might potentially levy tariffs on Mexico and Canada unless our neighbors to the north and south curtailed trafficking of fentanyl, Chinese precursor chemicals, and illegal migrants.
To make the matter all the more pressing, Trump has set a Feb. 1 deadline for taxes on imports from China and the EU, as well as 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
Tariffs have long been considered a way to promote domestic manufacturing, but some people worry that tariffs on specifically Canada and Mexico will prove to be a significant detriment to the US’s expansive corn farming industry, due to the potential for harmful economic actions in retaliation, given that the two North American nations are the top exporter of U.S.-grown corn (Mexico) and U.S. corn-based ethanol (Canada).
Ramifications on crops and agriculture including corn are not part of a distant future, however; Trump’s tariff plans have already had real-time effects on the stocks of several key crops. Soybeans, corn, and wheat all dropped in Chicago (although soybeans rose over 3% Monday in light of a lack of tariffs on China) in response to Trump’s announcement concerning tariffs on China.
International coalitions –
Among his more controversial decisions was Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). The decision came amid a series of executive orders the president signed on Monday, shortly after taking office.
Much of the executive order’s actual content focused on the justification for the withdrawal, accusing the WHO of forcing the U.S. to pay a disproportionately higher amount of money when compared to other nations, needing reforms, improperly responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and falling prey to the political influence of other nations. For context, the U.S. paid largely the same amount – well over $100 million – in member dues over the last 10 years as China, despite having a quarter of the population, not to mention the billions donated voluntarily by the U.S. government.
Trump’s decision was no surprise, however; in his previous term, the president had cut funding and passed an executive order to withdraw from the WHO in 2020, a decision reversed by now-former President Joe Biden before it went into effect. Decisions to withdraw from the WHO, however, must come a year in advance (exactly what allowed Biden to overturn Trump’s 2020 decision), meaning that the U.S. will still have to pay any outstanding amounts to the WHO.
Trump also withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, mimicking the very same action taken in 2017. While, much like the WHO withdrawal, the U.S.’s (second) exit from the Paris Agreement will not go into effect immediately, the executive order cementing this exit does put an end to significant amounts of American funding for a variety of climate-related international efforts, as well as heralding an era of change in international efforts to put a stop to global warming.
Gulf of Mexico –
Among Trump’s more humorous first-day decisions was his decision to officially rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”.
As Trump put pen to paper and signed this change into law in an executive order, this decision would effectively require the federal government to rename the body of water on all official documents, including maps. Which begs the question – what of digital maps?
Google Maps’ – the most used digital GPS app in the US, followed by Waze (which is owned by the same parent company) – policy holds that if the name of an area is in dispute by two nations, both names will be displayed with the corresponding name closer to the country where it is adhered to.
Conclusion –
Despite only having taken office two days ago, Trump’s presidency has sent shockwaves across the international community. From renaming bodies of water to threatening tariffs on a wide range of nations to exiting some of the most impactful global organizations, Trump’s first couple days in office have been nothing short of eventful. Only time – and the voice of the public – will tell what his remaining 1,459 days in office will look like.
