Donald Trump took the Oval Office back on Monday, January 20, 2025 for his second presidential term. There was a mixed response from Americans after his previous time in office, as reflected by the most recent election and voting cycle. However, there are still many people that do not know about Trump’s political agenda, then or now.

Then:

Notables from Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency:

1. Withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement

One decision that caused quite a stir during Trump’s first tenure was to abandon the climate agreement established at a United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21). Up until this point, the United States was one of 195 nations, everyone except Iran, Libya, and Yemen, that ratified the document, making clear their intent to fight global warming. Trump withdrew on November 4, 2019 and his action took effect a year later. Many world leaders were not happy with the move, especially due to the fact that the U.S. is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the EPA.

2. Economic Improvements

Trump’s White House Archives boldly state, “Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy.” The President was referring to Coronavirus, the worldwide pandemic that seriously overshadowed his time in office. Prosperity is subjective however and economic changes on the federal level have varying impacts depending on location. According to the BBC, Trump kept his promise to cut taxes, but “for some higher earners in urbanised, mostly Democratic states, taxes went up”. With regards to growth domestic product (GDP), a common metric for global economic growth, there was an increase from 1.1% per capita in 2016 to 2.4% in 2018. In 2020, GDP dipped to -3.1% per capita, the lowest recorded on the World Bank chart since 2009. It is hard to tell the true impact Trump would have made on the U.S. economy due to the outbreak of coronavirus, but it does appear that before the pandemic, GDP numbers were on an upward trajectory.

3. Cracking down on illegal immigration

Trump is well known for his token promise to build a wall on the southern U.S. border shared with Mexico. In a speech following his victory in the New Hampshire primary election in 2016, Trump declared, “We are going to build a wall. It is going to be built.” A wall did begin construction but when Biden entered office at the beginning of 2021 progress was halted. However, according to the U.S. News and World Report, 458 miles of barriers made of concrete and steel were added on the borders California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas share with Mexico. 

Another immigration related decision by Trump was a ban on immigration from six Muslim countries, limiting  in January of 2017. According to Immigration History, in 2020 the president expanded this ban to thirteen countries. The ban was reversed by Biden when he entered office (Brennan Center for Justice).

Overall, Trump did not deliver on his word to deport all undocumented immigrants. El País says “Between 2017 and 2021, his [Trump’s] administration conducted 1.5 million deportations. In comparison, during Barack Obama’s presidency from 2009 to 2017, there were five million deportations”.

Now:

Trump’s intentions for his second term:

Many of the Republican president’s policies are the same as he returns for his second term. Yet again, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, as well as from the World Health Organization (WHO), another UN group (Associated Press). 

WHO is an international institution that focuses on maintaining global health by responding to disease, ensuring medical systems evolve equally, and dealing with peaceful human and national relations. In an article explaining why Trump would leave WHO, CNN states, “The agency has, however, been criticized for being inefficient, opaque, overly reliant on private donors and hamstrung by political concerns.”

Many Americans hear “Project 2025” and think of it as a plan for the Trump administration. However, this is not necessarily true. The project was created by the Heritage Foundation, an organization whose mission is based around three pillars: providing solutions, mobilizing conservatives, and training leaders. According to CBS, the foundation came out with a “Mandate for Leadership” in 2015 with the aim to guide the next conservative president. “Two years into his presidency, it [the “Mandate”] touted that Trump had instituted 64% of its policy recommendations, ranging from leaving the Paris Climate Accords, increasing military spending, and increasing off-shore drilling and developing federal lands.” This leads many to believe Project 2025 will guide his legislative action in a similar manner.

Here are a few things to expect from Trump in the next four years:

1. Only Recognizing Male and Female People

The White House website indicates, “the President will establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology.” This lines up with a bullet point from the Heritage Foundation’s plan to ban transgender people, specifically “biological males from competing in women’s sports”.

2. Regain U.S. Dominance in Energy

After Biden’s presidency where he focused more on renewables and climate action, Trump aims to do virtually the opposite. He wants to reduce regulations surrounding energy production to increase practices such as mining. Trump believes these actions will lower the American cost of living. 

3. Make America a Leader in AI

One of the first of many executive actions President Trump signed upon reentering office was an order to put an end to Biden’s regulations surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI). A 180-day AI development project was also created to help supplement Trump’s plan for technologies like Open AI, creator of Chat GPT (Reuters).

It is difficult to tell what the true actions of the Trump administration will be at the moment, but his plans will make themselves clear as his time in the Oval Office continues.