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Donald Trump ushered in an era of disruption to the global economy, threatening new tariffs on America’s allies and moving to dismantle Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign agenda just hours after he returned to the White House.
In extensive comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday night, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico as early as February 1, hitting currencies of countries and pushing US stock futures lower.
The newly minted 47th American president also threatened apply levies on Chinese imports up to 100 percent if Beijing fails to agree to sell at least 50 percent of the TikTok app to a U.S. company and tariffs on EU products unless they buy more U.S. oil.
The comments and the jolt in global markets offered another reminder of Trump’s willingness to upend the world order and engage in high-stakes coercive negotiations to impose America’s will on key trading partners.
The remarks from the Oval Office came just hours after Trump used his inauguration speech to promise an end to America’s “decline” and the beginning of a new “golden age” it is based on a dramatic reversal of the progressive agenda of the Biden administration.
The 78-year-old president quickly announced aggressive new steps to boost fossil fuel production, deport immigrants and deliver on the populist and nationalist platform that propelled him to victory in last year’s race for the White House.
He rescinded dozens of Biden’s executive orders on everything from advancing racial equality and sanctioning extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, to strengthening Medicaid and promoting access to voting.
The sweeping overhaul included another US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and marked a statement of intent from the world’s most prominent right-wing politician, who was elected after promising to reverse the Biden administration’s agenda.
Trump also announced that he would pardon people convicted of taking part in the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol, when his supporters stormed Congress to violently stop the certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The pardons for the rioters evoke the remarkable comeback of Trump himself, who won last year’s election despite becoming the first president to be convicted of a crime and after two assassination attempts.
Trump’s trade glee grew throughout the day. In his inaugural speech, Trump suggested that tariffs are his favorite tool in international economic diplomacy and would be key to raising revenue for the US, while downplaying their potential to raise prices for American consumers.
“Instead of taxing our own citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our own citizens,” he said.
Trump said a plan to impose universal tariffs on all imports — a measure he touted during his campaign — remains on the table.
Trump spoke in the Oval Office surrounded by key aides including chief of staff Susie Wiles, policy chief Stephen Miller and Peter Navarro, his top White House adviser on trade and manufacturing policy.
Signaling that cracking down on immigration remains a domestic policy priority, Trump also signed a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and took steps to limit birthright citizenship for those born to undocumented immigrants on US soil.
“It’s a big one. . . . We’re the only country in the world that does that with birthright,” he said, even though dozens of other nations allow that right.
Trump’s move will almost certainly be challenged in court for violating the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
The president also ordered the Pentagon to draft a plan to deploy troops to the US-Mexico border.
Trump has also labeled drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Sending US special forces to Mexico to extract them “could happen. Stranger things have happened,” he added.
Trump declined to say whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin raids in major cities on Tuesday to detain undocumented migrants. “I don’t want to say when, but it will happen, it has to happen or we won’t have a country.”
Among his foreign policy pledges, Trump said the US would regain control of the Panama Canal and “build the strongest military the world has ever seen”, even as he pledged to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, saying he would be a “peacemaker”.