The consequential policies of Donald Trump have mainly defined by his disrespect for political norms and his historic two impeachments in the country’s history. President purposefully sought to overturn conventional national and foreign policy, basically changing the role of America in the world. Furthermore, Trump disrupted the current situation in Washington, recalibrating the role of the federal government in everyday American life in both ways, momentary and for a longer-term effect.
Some of the most consequential decisions of the president, like judicial appointments, will dictate the ideological make-up of the courts for some years. Moreover, the physical reminder of the immigration and border security policies of Trump, in the form of a United States-Mexico border wall, will likely remain etched into the landscape of America well past his presidency. His other actions, including several issued through the use of executive authority, can be reversed through the regulatory process or with the sign of President-elect Joe Biden once he took the oath.
Here below, we will discuss some of the most significant ways of Trump’s actions and policies that changed America:
- COVID-19 and Public Health
- Immigration Policies of Trump administration
- The U.S. Economy
- Trade Policies
- Energy and the Environment
- The judiciary and the Justice Department
- Education
- National security, defense, and foreign affairs
- Health care
- The social safety nets
COVID-19 and Public Health
The federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest focus of the Trump administration during his final in office – and that was its biggest failure. In addition, the president made clear political calculations that put eyes ahead of the health of U.S. nationals. In the last months of the election, Trump held big political rallies filled with crowds of unmasked people as the coronavirus hit a new peak in the country. The president also declined to wear a mask and didn’t maintain social distance in front of cameras, and he openly downplayed the deadliness of the pandemic while privately knowing its seriousness.
Early on, the President and the White House were heavy on dialog but looked little instant action. The United States’ federal government faced difficulties in delivering medical supplies and personal protective equipment to American hospitals and nursing homes. In the same way, testing efforts also disorganized. The president and his allies deliberately overlooked the guidelines his administration touted – such as maintaining social distance, wearing face masks, avoiding big gatherings, and avoiding unnecessary travel. These actions from the Trump administration led to outbreaks among his team members, including Trump himself and his supporters. America currently boasts more COVID-19 cases and mortality than any other nation globally.
On the other hand, one victory of the Trump government was the rapid development of two COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines got approval in December. However, the rest of the handling of the outbreak defined by huge, and at times possibly deadly, missteps. There is no specific, good treatment for the virus of the infection, and the United States efforts to help speed the development of new techniques were middle by early stress on medicines such as hydroxychloroquine, which proves useless.
Immigration Policies of Trump administration
The immigration policies of the American president were always going to be central to his presidency after the announcement of his candidacy and declares that immigrants coming into the United States from Mexico were a criminal and rapist. Moreover, the government enacted hundreds of executive measures to curb both legal and illegal immigration to the country, starting with one of his initial actions as President: the travel ban in the U.S., which critics mocked as an effort to ban Muslims from America.
The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the repetition of the ban in 2018 after several legal battles, including some occasions where courts blocked the ban. Courts blocked some of the preventive immigration policies of the Trump administration, including an effort to include an immigration question in the survey and terminate the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program. His government also separated a large number of families at the United States-Mexico border under the controversial zero-tolerance policy. Additionally, the administration builds hundreds of new barriers on the border.
Migrant admissions to America dropped. And in some immigration moves from the White House this previous spring, the government put on hold much of family-based immigration and a number of guest worker visas through the year-end, with some exemptions, quoting high unemployment because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: Web
On Day one of his president, Joe Biden, expected to instantly issue executive orders undoing the past immigration policies of Trump, reinstalling Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and revoking the travel ban. However, finally, the Trump administration overhauled the American immigration system to mainly ban migrants from the United States through sequential changes that will be difficult for Biden to undo.
The U.S. Economy
Though Donald Trump mainly relied on stock market gains, backed take-home pay, and record low unemployment as major highlights of his presidency. Trump’s full record on the economy is diverse at best. Several of those economic achievements of Trump dissipated when the COVID-19 outbreak hit the country. According to the researchers from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, almost eight million more U.S. nationals joined the ranks of poor since June 2020. The poverty rate of the country jumped to about 11.7% in November, greater than 9.3% in June. That was almost double the largest yearly increase in poverty since the 1960s. However, the growth in the poverty rate dramatically increased among Black Americans, the study indicates.
The only legislative victory of Trump was authorizing new, sweeping tax cuts into law. Whereas, the numbers of unemployment in America fell to their lowest point in 2019 since 1969. However, it was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the American economy and the economy, skyrocketing unemployment claims. Now, over ten months into the pandemic, the United States jobs market continues to struggle. Moreover, there is a piece of increasing evidence that the outbreak dealt a lasting shock to the United States economy, with around four million people permanently lost jobs. Trump also promised to revive the American coal industry but failed to do so.
And he will have supervised smaller growth in economic output than all other previous twelve presidents. The Nasdaq, the Dow, and the S&P 500 touched their record highs during the Trump presidency, even as unemployment surged because of the coronavirus, but those market gains mainly drove by low-interest rates set by the Fed.
Trade Policies
Donald Trump termed himself as a businessman-turned-politician that wouldn’t allow the United States to take advantage of by the rest of the world. That pro-independence approach established itself in many ways, but especially on trade – affecting the good’s cost worldwide and altering the American labor market. The president left the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the first month in office. Trump administration waged an aluminum and steel tariff war against key United States trading allies, causing prices of several products made with the metals to rise. Moreover, the administration also threatened to issue and, from time to time, followed through with tariffs against a vast range of European products – including wine, whiskey, cheese, and cars.
Trump administration renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) agreement with Mexico and Canada, retitling it United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). Furthermore, the administration struck a trade agreement with Beijing, but after phase I of the agreement agreed upon earlier this year, relations with China delayed mainly because of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The president’s tariff finally imposed eighty billion dollars of new taxes on Americans. Trump seemed to acknowledge that the U.S. trade war hurt farmers and that to balance their struggles, the president celebrated the execution of sponsoring strategies that ran counter to the anti-socialist principles he believed in.
Energy and the Environment
During the first year in office, Trump announced that he planned to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. In the announcement, the president said the curbing climate change that the deal placed draconian financial problems on the American nation. It was one of the several examples of the president leaving an international accord where he felt the country treated unfairly. According to the New York Times, Biden says that he plans to have the United States rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement on his very first day in office. America is about midway in the direction of achieving the goal of the accord to cut emissions, but not on exact track to meet it.
Trump’s administration targeted fifty-year-old Clean Air Act protections, carbon emissions caps, animal protections, the length of environmental impact studies for infrastructure projects, energy-efficient light bulb requirements, gas pipelines, herbicide limits, methane regulations, and limits for auto emissions. Moreover, the United States opened huge stretches of land and water offshore to the drilling of oil and gas. However, the president issued a suspension on offshore drilling in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. America became the largest oil producer globally in 2018.
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