Trump's second term: Big shifts ahead for trade, climate, and immigration?

A Donald Trump presidential election victory would have huge implications for US trade policy, climate change, the war in Ukraine, electric vehicles, Americans’ taxes and illegal immigration.

While some of his proposals would require congressional approval, here is a summary of the policies he has said he would pursue in his second four-year term in office:

More tariffs

Trump has floated the idea of a 10 per cent or more tariff on all goods imported into the US, a move he says would eliminate the trade deficit. But critics say it would lead to higher prices for American consumers and global economic instability.

He has also said he should have the authority to set higher tariffs on countries that have put tariffs on US imports. He has threatened to impose a 200pc tariff on some imported cars, saying he is determined in particular to keep cars from Mexico from coming into the country.

But he has also suggested that allies such as the European Union could see higher duties on their goods.

Trump has targeted China in particular. He proposes phasing out Chinese imports of goods such as electronics, steel and pharmaceuticals over four years. He seeks to prohibit Chinese companies from owning US real estate and infrastructure in the energy and tech sectors.

Trump has said “tariff” is his favorite word and views them as revenue generators that would help fill government coffers.

Mass deportations

Trump has vowed to reinstate his first-term policies targeting illegal border crossings and to forge ahead with sweeping new restrictions.

He has pledged to limit access to asylum at the US-Mexico border and to embark on the biggest deportation effort in American history, which would likely trigger legal challenges and opposition from Democrats in Congress.

He has said he will employ the National Guard, and, if necessary, federal troops, to achieve his objective, and he has not ruled out setting up internment camps to process people for deportation.

Trump has said he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born to immigrants, a move that would run against the long-running interpretation of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

He has also suggested he would revoke protected legal status for some populations such as Haitians or Venezuelans.

Trump says he will reinstitute the so-called “travel ban” that restricts entry into the United States of people from a list of largely Muslim-dominant countries, which sparked multiple legal battles during his first term.

Drilling away

Trump has vowed to increase US production of fossil fuels by easing the permitting process for drilling on federal land and would encourage new natural gas pipelines. He has said he would reauthorise oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Whether the oil industry follows through and raises production at a time when oil and gas prices are relatively low remains to be seen.

He has said he will again pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords, a framework for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, and would support increased nuclear energy production.

He would also roll back Democratic President Joe Biden’s electric-vehicle mandates and other policies aimed at reducing auto emissions.

He has argued that the US needs to be able to boost energy production to be competitive in developing artificial intelligence systems, which consume large amounts of power.

Tax relief

Along with his trade and energy agendas, Trump has promised to slash federal regulations that he says limit job creation. He has pledged to keep in place a broad 2017 tax cut that he signed while in office, and his economic team has discussed a further round of individual and corporate tax cuts beyond those enacted in his first term.

Trump has pledged to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21pc to 15pc for companies that make their products in the US.

He has said he would seek legislation to end the taxation of tips and overtime wages to aid waiters and other service workers. He has pledged not to tax or cut Social Security benefits.

Trump also has said that as president he would pressure the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates — but would stop short of demanding it.

Most, if not all, of his tax proposals would require congressional action. Budget analysts have warned that the bevy of tax cuts would balloon the federal debt.

Doing away with diversity programs

Trump has pledged to require US colleges and universities to “defend American tradition and Western civilisation” and to purge them of diversity programs. He said he would direct the Justice Department to pursue civil rights cases against schools that engage in racial discrimination.

At K-12 schools, Trump would support programs allowing parents to use public funds for private or religious instruction.

Trump also wants to abolish the federal Department of Education, and leave states in control of schooling.