With Donald Trump back in White House for a second term, all eyes are on the potential U-turns he could make in the coming years as was seen in his previous tenure. Days before his inauguration on January 20, President Trump said he would reverse the ban on TikTok by the Joe Biden administration.
On January 17, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously upheld a federal law that requires a ban or sale of the platform. However, Trump inked an executived order on January 20 granting a 75-day extension to comply with the law.
TikTok thanked Trump, saying, “It's a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States."
Similarly, in 2016, Trump said the H-1B visa was "very, very bad" for Americans and imposed a temporary ban. Howeverm recently he has changes his stance, thanks to Elon Musk, calling the H-1B visa "a great programme."
Now Trump is back with a know-how and a very different team from before. “We’re going to do an even better job because now we have a tremendous amount of experience,” he told reporters at a recent news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort.
As Trump looks forward to more reforms in the coming days, let us take a look back at his policy U-turns.
Phase one trade
During his first term, Trump pushed his “America First” trade policy and vowed to impose tariffs on China to address trade imbalances and intellectual property theft. Although he imposed tariffs, the US and China signed a historic “Phase One trade” deal on January 15, 2020. The agreement includes structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime, which brought down some of his strict stances. However, during his presidential run, Trump has once again threatened to impose tariffs on China.
NATO agreement
Trump repeatedly questioned NATO’s relevance and accused the co-member states for not contributing enough to the military alliance. Trump continued to express his bitterness but did not withdraw the US from NATO, as some leaders had feared, given the US’s central role as the alliance’s primary contributor.
Covid-19 response
Trump initially downplayed the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and called it a “hoax” and was pushing for the reopening of the economy, despite the millions of infections and thousands of deaths. His way of handling the situation was criticised widely and his approach was controversial but he later supported measures such as vaccine developments.
Troop withdrawal from Syria
In 2018 and 2019, the Trump administration announced that they will withdraw all the U.S. troops from Syria stating that ISIS was defeated. But after facing backlash due to this decision, he kept a small group of army in the name of “securing the oil reserve”. Even as years passed, the U.S. continues to have a strong military footprint in Syria adopting and evolving according to the on-going threats in the region.
Law on gun control
After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida took place, Trump suggested raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 for purchasing certain firearms and advocated for the ban on bump stocks (devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire faster). But after facing severe backlash from the National Rifle Association and gun rights advocates, he did not push for any substantial changes and instead, his administration focused more on issues like mental health and school safety rather than enacting new gun control measures.