Trump’s return: What is on president-elect’s agenda for US?

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to move into the White House in January, there are two important campaign promises that American voters are expecting him to fulfill.

Boosting the economy and revamping US immigration policies should be Trump’s top priorities, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.

The survey conducted in September revealed that 93% of people who planned to vote for Trump had the economy as their number one issue, so his administration is widely expected to make economic measures a top priority.

With Republicans winning control of both the House and Senate, political analysts say Trump is aiming to move a major tax cut package within the first 100 days of taking office.

As key parts of Trump’s 2017 tax law from his first presidential term are set to expire in 2025, Republicans are expected to push for permanent cuts to income tax rates and move forward with Trump’s promise to reduce the corporate income tax rate to 15%.

In addition, Trump has vowed to increase tariffs from anywhere between 10% to 20% on all imports coming into the US – in addition to 60% to 100% tariffs on imports coming specifically from China – which he says will increase investment in American jobs and domestic industry.

“We will target everything from car affordability to housing affordability to insurance costs to supply chain issues,” Trump said during his campaign.

Such extreme tariffs have raised concerns by some American companies with a global presence and international supply chains that they might actually hurt their businesses.

Some economists have also raised red flags that Trump’s plan could reignite already high inflation rates, slow down the economy and increase national deficits.

A recent study by the National Retail Federation (NRF) pointed out that Trump’s tariff proposal for import taxes could increase costs for American businesses, which would translate to consumers paying more – between $46 billion and $78 billion annually – for products, specifically clothing, toys, furniture, household appliances, shoes and travel goods.

“A tariff is a tax paid by the US importer, not a foreign country or the exporter. This tax ultimately comes out of consumers’ pockets through higher prices,” Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at NRF, said in a statement.

Trump has scoffed at his critics, calling “tariff” the “world’s most beautiful word in the dictionary,” and claiming that his plan would bring “thousands of companies” to the US.

Trump has also said he would sign an executive order that directs every Cabinet secretary and agency to “use every tool and authority at their disposal” to defeat inflation and lower consumer prices.

- Migration and mass deportations

The Pew survey showed 82% of Americans ranked immigration as the second most important issue that needs to be tackled, and Trump has said that he plans to cut in half the number of undocumented immigrants coming into the US every year.

He has vowed to conduct mass deportations of millions of people illegally entering the US, with Republicans already strategizing to ramp up border patrol initiatives and increase staffing at detention centers to begin immediate deportations.

Removing undocumented immigrants with violent criminal backgrounds is expected to be a priority for the Trump administration once the mass deportations begin.

“We know that on day one he is going to launch the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in American history,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s pick for White House press secretary, said in an interview with Fox News.

Critics fear that the extreme immigration measures could target communities with people who have the legal right to live in the US.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the US, is already preparing for a legal battle over what it calls Trump’s “vicious, malevolent, cruel and ruthless” immigration policies.

“Make no mistake: Mass deportations will harm the millions targeted by Donald Trump, the families and communities they are part of – and every person in our country,” LULAC head Juan Proano said in a statement.

“They will rip parents from their children, destroy businesses and livelihoods, and devastate the fabric of our nation and our economy.”

Trump began his first term in the White House with lip-service of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, which never came to fruition.

This time around, he will begin his second term with a detailed blueprint for curbing the immigration problem, including ways to restrict legal immigration, removing protections for immigrants who are in the US legally, and ramping up deportations of undocumented immigrants.

During his presidential campaign, Trump’s team said it would start with the mass deportation of 1 million undocumented migrants per year.

The American Immigration Council, a Washington-based think tank that advocates for immigration, estimated that deporting 1 million people every year would cost about $88 billion per year, with a massive price tag of close to $100 billion over the span of nearly a decade.

Trump has said there is “no price tag” to his mass deportation plans, but Republican lawmakers will ultimately determine if they will pay the hefty costs, while trying to balance the budget and keep their promise to the American people about reducing inflation and fixing the economy.

Whether or not it is feasible for Trump to execute his ambitious economic and immigration plans remains to be seen, but his administration has said that is the president-elect’s ultimate goal.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver,” said Leavitt.