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Donald Trump will return to the White House after winning the 2024 US presidential election. But what does that actually mean for America, and the rest of the world?
Trump’s campaign was far from rich in policy details, and the president-elect is notoriously unpredictable.
But, with those caveats firmly in mind, this is what he has said he’ll do once sworn back in as president.
Introduce massive trade tariffs
One of Trump’s major economic policies is his promise to slap a 10 or 20 per cent tariff on all goods imported into the United States.
He’s also promised a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese goods and touted one focused on Mexico, too.
If the tariffs eventuate, they are likely to spark retaliation, potentially setting off significant trade wars between some of the world’s leading economies.
Pass new tax cuts
Keeping on the economic theme, Trump has promised “the largest tax cut in history”, building on a policy he enacted in 2017.
He’s also talked of cutting the corporate tax rate from 21 to 15 per cent for businesses that make their goods in the US, as well as scrapping taxes on overtime pay, tips and social security benefits – the latter of which generates billions in revenue.
Trump hasn’t said how he’d replace the lost income for the budget.
Embark on mass deportations
Immigration was a major issue in the election. Trump in February promised the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history”.
This includes using the Alien Enemies Act to remove known or suspected gang members and some other criminals from the country.
Give RFK a role in his administration
Former Democrat turned independent candidate turned Trump supporter Robert F Kennedy Jr appears set for a place in the next administration.
“Bobby, stay away from the liquid gold. Other than that, have a good time, Bobby,” Trump said in his victory speech.
He had earlier said RFK will have a “big role in the administration”.
Kennedy claimed before the election that Trump promised to hand him “control of the public health agencies”.
He is a noted anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who has called for fluoride to be removed from drinking water. Trump has not ruled out banning vaccines in a second term.
Radically reshape the civil service
Trump has said he wants the power to fire civil servants he thinks are disloyal.
In late 2020, he issued an executive order that gave him the power to fire so-called “rogue bureaucrats”, and has promised to reinstate that decision after it was revoked under Joe Biden.
Critics said that executive order politicised the civil service and stripped workers of their due process rights.
Trump has also promised to scrap a Biden executive order that promoted equitable hiring practices in federal agencies, and has touted an efficiency commission, led by Elon Musk, to reduce government spending.
Musk has claimed he could cut $US2 trillion – almost a third of the massive US budget.
‘Drill, baby, drill’
Trump has promised to ramp up domestic energy production, remove caps on US natural gas exports, and “drill, baby, drill”.
“We have more liquid gold, oil and gas than any country in the world,” he said in his victory speech.
“More than Saudi Arabia, more than Russia.”
He’s also flagged rolling back some of Biden’s climate policies, and said he will “make sure that ends on day one” when talking about wind farms, claiming the turbines kill birds and whales.
As for Ukraine, the Middle East and foreign policy, we’re not too sure
Trump has repeatedly claimed he can end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours”.
What that actually looks like is unclear, although experts have speculated that Ukraine would be forced to give up land to Vladimir Putin’s invasion under such a quick solution.
He has struck a similar tone in regard to the conflict in the Middle East, saying Israel has to “finish up your war. You have to finish it up, you got to get it done”.
Again, he has offered few specifics about his approach to that conflict, simply saying in his victory speech that “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars”.
Trump’s attitude towards NATO, the crucial Western military alliance, is more of a known quantity.
He has repeatedly railed against member nations that have fallen short of military spending targets, saying he wouldn’t defend them and instead encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” against them.
Trump has promised to “fundamentally reevaluate NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission”.
The same goes for abortion
Trump’s stance on abortion was fairly wishy-washy throughout the campaign, from boasting about appointing the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v Wade to saying “my administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights”.
He eventually seemed to settle on it being an issue for individual states to decide.
While many Republicans have backed a complete abortion ban, Trump said he would not sign a national prohibition into law, in some cases claiming he would veto one if passed by Congress.
However, he signalled he was open to blocking access to abortion pills like mifepristone.
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