[Blog] Analysis : Donald Trump, for better or worse?

It is now official! The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America took place on Monday 20th January 2025. The ceremony was held inside the United States Capitol building in view of freezing temperatures and high winds. The list of invitees included dignitaries, namely, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton as well as CEOs of Silicon Valley tech firms, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Tim cook, to name a few and the one and only Elon Musk. 

The new President signed countless executive orders in the first few days of his presidency, making it almost impossible to keep up. These executive orders stem from unfinished business from the 1st term as well as the numerous promises that Donald Trump made during the presidential campaign. Some actions sparked controversies (but aren’t we accustomed to these?), namely the pardoning of individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress. Donald Trump has also announced that the US will exit the World Health Organization (WHO) on the basis of disproportionate contributions, in a move that could jeopardise humanitarian aid and research on infectious diseases.

Another executive order was signed that will see the US exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. This decision could have been anticipated as Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in his first term as President. It is clear that the new administration supports fossil fuels. In fact, during his inaugural speech, Donald Trump stated that they will “drill baby drill”. This implies that the United States could be ditching cleaner energy and relinquish the fight to contain the climate crisis. However, it is worth noting that the US is the second most polluting country in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and Los Angeles has witnessed devastating wildfires in recent weeks. It appears that clean energy, electric vehicles and other environmentally friendly solutions are not on Donald Trump’s agenda. Should the world brace itself for further heatwaves, floods and storms in the forthcoming years? 

If president Donald Trump can play a pivotal role in ending the war, it could mean a resounding victory for him and his administration."

National emergency

In another move, Donald Trump declared war on illegal immigrants. He stated that US troops shall be deployed to the southern border with Mexico. In fact, the President declared a national emergency on the issue of immigration. He also signed an executive order to deny automatic citizenship to US born children of undocumented immigrants. Another executive order followed designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. 

The presidency has also committed to pursuing the federal death penalty and pledged to ensure that states have sufficient lethal injection drugs to perform the executions. Government agencies issuing visas, passports and other official documents have been ordered to only allow “male” and “female” as options. Could this order be a move to deny transgender rights? 

During his inaugural speech, Donald Trump vowed to change a few names. The Gulf of Mexico would be changed to the Gulf of America, while Mountain Denali, the highest peak in North America, would be renamed Mount McKinley. However, these changes would most probably apply to the US. Other countries may or may not follow suit. Hence, some cartographers could see their workload increase abruptly while for others, it would be business as usual. 

The Trump administration has taken off and one can expect a series of bold announcements, actions and possibly social media outbursts after which the media, civil society, or even the administration’s own staff will try to decipher (or make sense of them!). 

a recent announcement, President Trump pledged $500 billion to artificial intelligence projects, to which Elon Musk responded, “They don’t have the money.” Well, aren’t we used to such spats! Notably, Elon Musk has been appointed to run the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an attempt to streamline government spending. However, initially, the department was intended to be headed by both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (a former presidential candidate and Trump supporter). However, Vivek Ramaswamy was removed to focus on his campaign for Governor of Ohio.

In a recent announcement, president Trump pledged $500bn on Artificial Intelligence projects…"

High expectations

There were high expectations for Donald Trump to end the war in Ukraine. True to his style, he claimed that he could end the war within a couple of days of taking office, although it was not clear exactly how he would do it. 

In a recent post on the President’s own social media platform, Truth Social, he warned President Putin to “stop the ridiculous war,” further adding that he could “do it the easy way or the hard way.” Whether imposing further sanctions on Russia – or the so-called “easy way” – could end the war in Ukraine remains to be seen. However, it is clear that the world overwhelmingly wishes to see an end to this war, and if President Donald Trump manages to play a pivotal role in resolving it, it could mean a resounding victory for him and his administration.

As we catch our breath, President Trump has also announced tariffs on imported products, namely from Canada and China. While this was a strategy he advocated during his first term, it appears that his message is to protect American businesses. Whether this strategy will deliver or backfire remains to be seen.

The Donald Trump era has begun, and it is quite obvious that the new President does not wish to stay in the starting blocks. Over the next four years, organizations –primarily the media – will be busy covering the various announcements and policy decisions.

While some executive orders may challenge the rule of law – such as the recent announcement to revoke birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants (a federal judge in Seattle has already halted the order on the grounds of unconstitutionality) – others could take effect immediately.

In any case, isn’t diplomacy the cornerstone of international relations at this level? Well, countries around the world will inevitably have to engage diplomatically with the US. However, we can only hope that President Donald Trump has learned from his first term and will act in the best interest of the American people and the world.

By Shaktee Ramtohul, Chartered Accountant & Business Consultant