09/11/2016 Seven Donald Trump policies that could change the US

Donald Trump’s stunning victory in Tuesday’s US presidential election (http://next.ft.co

m/content/1f58d530-a5a9-11e6-8898-79a99e2a4de6) sets the stage for a series of
radical policy reversals both at home and abroad.

A Trump presidency (http://next.ft.com/content/5bc4520e-a5e2-11e6-8898-79a99e2a4

de6) could scupper some of Barack Obama’s signature achievements, including
Obamacare, climate change policy and the nuclear deal with Iran. Democratic hopes of
shaping the Supreme Court for a generation would be dashed; a markedly more
conservative court is now likely. Foreign policy could also undergo a dramatic shift.

Many analysts caution that there is a big difference between campaign promises and
official policy — trade renegotiations sometimes turn out to be less substantive than
advertised. Commitments on foreign policy issues, such as moving the US embassy in
Israel to Jerusalem, are sometimes set aside.

But here are seven ways in which life could change under a President Donald Trump.

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09/11/2016 Seven Donald Trump policies that could change the US

Mr Trump has opposed the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership deal and called for
fundamental changes to the Nafta pact with Mexico and Canada. Such policies appear to
have boosted his appeal (http://next.ft.com/content/d62093a8-5b57-11e6-8d05-4eaa66
292c32) throughout the rust belt of the Midwest, with huge consequences for the
election’s ultimate outcome. He has also threatened to impose punitive 45 per cent tariffs
(http://next.ft.com/content/e75a9a88-7e0c-11e6-8e50-8ec15fb462f4) on goods from
China, stoking fears of a trade war.

Mr Trump has said that Mr Obama’s deal with Iran, which seeks to prevent the Islamic
Republic from attaining nuclear weapons, would be dismantled (http://next.ft.com/cont
ent/57b07ee2-efdd-11e5-aff5-19b4e253664a) or at least restructured. While Mr Obama
began his term by setting out a vision of a world without nuclear weapons, Mr Trump has
said he would be open to both Japan and South Korea developing nuclear arsenals (htt
p://next.ft.com/content/c927017c-f398-11e5-9afe-dd2472ea263d). He has also
questioned the US’s treaty commitments to Nato allies that do not pay their own way
while suggesting a much closer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Trump has signed up to the Republican pledge that Mr Obama’s signature

Obamacare reforms must be “released and replaced”. He has not set out a
comprehensive alternative but says he will encourage competition between markets in
different states.

Mr Trump has promised the biggest tax revolution (http://next.ft.com/content/d70d6ed

2-5d8a-11e6-a72a-bd4bf1198c63) since Ronald Reagan, pledging to cut taxes across the
board. He says no American business would pay more than 15 per cent of their profits in
tax, compared with a current maximum of 35 per cent. The top rate of tax would fall
from 39.6 per cent as the Republican reduces the number of tax brackets.

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09/11/2016 Seven Donald Trump policies that could change the US

For many political activists in the US this could be the biggest consequence of the
election. With the highest court (http://next.ft.com/content/55885f80-a505-11e6-8b69-
02899e8bd9d1) in the land currently split 4-4 between conservative and more liberal
judges, Hillary Clinton’s supporters had hoped that a ninth justice chosen by a
Democratic president would shift the balance, possibly for a generation. Instead, Mr
Trump faces relatively easy confirmation of his pick by a Republican Senate and he may
also have the opportunity to replace some of the relatively elderly complement of liberal
judges.

Mr Trump has called global warming (http://next.ft.com/content/ad7e8844-a1dc-11e6-

82c3-4351ce86813f) a hoax invented by China to make US manufacturers uncompetitive
and vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement, which built on a deal Mr Obama
struck with China. He also says he would stop all US payments for UN global warming
programmes.

This is the issue that excited most passions in the campaign, both among Mr Trump’s
supporters and among Hispanic voters eager to prevent him from taking the White
House. Mrs Clinton and departing Mr Obama had backed comprehensive reforms that
would give illegal immigrants a chance at full citizenship. Mr Trump has campaigned on
his pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border, called for a ban on Muslim immigration
(http://next.ft.com/content/b252b1c6-700c-11e6-a0c9-1365ce54b926) and the
deportation of 11m unauthorised immigrants. However, he has subsequently made more
ambiguous statements, promising instead “extreme vetting” and declining to clarify his
precise plans for undocumented immigrants.

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09/11/2016 Seven Donald Trump policies that could change the US

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