On January 20, 2025, the United States inaugurated President Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America.
However, before the ceremony, Trump announced his plans for his new term, with some of the highlights being renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the annexation of foreign countries and territories such as Canada, getting rid of Medicare and other similar suggestions for new policies.
One of Trump’s other proposed policy changes is the removal of birthright citizenship, which sparked concern especially among immigrants and children of immigrants.
This bill has not yet passed through the Senate and the House, but it still has been enacted as an executive order.
“It’s alarming that a president can even have this much power, especially when some [immigrants] had to have come legally,” sophomore Aether Wood said.
The Constitution states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” but the actual interpretation of this ultimately falls to the courts, leaving them the power to block the order.
However, even if the executive order does go through, chances are it won’t apply retroactively and it could be repealed by the next president.
This isn’t the only major change that Trump has attempted to enact.
Trump “declared that there’s only two genders,” senior Annika Gruettemann said.
However, most of these policies may not even be permanent.
Most governments in modern day have a system of checks and balances, which “is just the fact that each of those branches is keeping each other in check,” senior Mattias Eberhart said.
This means that even though some executive orders have been signed, due to the nature of our government, they are still nothing permanent.
Additionally, they can still be repealed by any future president following President Trump’s term.
Another major policy Trump has implemented is the proposed introduction of new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
Trump suggested 25% tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico, but discussions with diplomats led to a 30-day hold on the imposition of these tolls.
On the other hand, a 10% tariff on goods from China went into effect on Feb. 4, but the country imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
Most recently, Trump has suggested different ways for the U.S. to move forward in regards to the future of the Israel and Palestine conflict. Much of his rhetoric has been met with criticsm and confusion, and there have been no final or official decisions as of yet.
Additionally, he plans to shut down the Department of Education, but it is yet to see if that is feasible.