A wealthy businessman from New York, Donald J. Trump assumed public office for the first time when he entered the White House on Jan 20, 2017 as the 45th president of the United States after he defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in an upset.
Although he had no government experience and in recent years had spent as much time running beauty pageants and starring in reality television as he had building his property empire, Trump at 70 became the oldest man to ever become president.
During his improbable rise, Trump constantly proved the pundits and received political wisdom wrong.
Opposed by the entire senior hierarchy of his own Republican Party, he trounced more than a dozen better-funded and more experienced rivals in the party primary.
He stunned America and the world, riding a wave of populist resentment to defeat Hillary Clinton in the race as he swept to victory through a series of hard-fought wins in battleground states from Florida to Ohio.
"I will be a president for all Americans," the president-elect had pledged. However, he has been called a "deeply divisive leader".
Earlier this year, he won impeachment acquital in the US Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House.
Read | Four years in, Trump has plenty of unfinished business
Trump stuck with Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate in the 2020 presidential election, saying "he’s my guy, he’s my friend."
Read | The Loyalist: VP Pence preserves own presidential prospects
Immigration
Trump’s push to crack down on illegal immigration was at the heart of his winning the 2016 election and has remained at the forefront of his White House agenda.
- Limiting immigration during the pandemic: In April, Trump suspended all immigration into the US, saying he was taking the action to protect the US workforce.
- Ending DACA: In 2017, he ended the DACA programme protecting 700,000 "Dreamers", undocumented migrants brought to the United States as children. However, the US Supreme Court rejected the cancellation.
Read | With election looming, Trump hardens stance against 'Dreamer' immigrant programme
- US-Mexico border wall: He authorised the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border which he said was key to keeping out people who cross illegally.
QuickTake: The US-Mexico border wall — Bloomberg
- 'Zero tolerance' policy: His 2018 "zero-tolerance" policy to prosecute illegal border crossings led to several thousand children being forcibly separated from parents and legal guardians detained on the Mexico border. The backlash led Trump to sign an executive order to end the practice. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that lawyers are still struggling to find the parents of 545 children.
Pakistan-US Ties
Trump has issued contrasting statements on ties with Pakistan, from calling the relationship between the two countries based on "nothing but lies and deceit" in early 2018 and ending security aid, to saying US has "never been this close to Pakistan" earlier this year. He has also called Prime Minister Imran Khan his "friend". The two world leaders have met thrice since the premier assumed office in 2018.
He also assured Pakistan of support during the coronavirus crisis and said that the US would provide "ventilators and economic help".
However, the US president is yet to visit Pakistan despite a visit to neighbouring India earlier this year. Addressing a rally in Ahmedabad, India on Feb 25, Trump said the US has "a very good relation" with Pakistan and hopes to reduce tensions in the region. He once again offered to mediate on the Kashmir dispute, citing good relations with leaders on both sides.
Read | Eight times Donald Trump offered 'help' to resolve Kashmir issue — Deccan Herald
Islamophobia
During his first month in office in January 2017, President Trump restricted travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. The restrictions were altered during a series of court challenges and some non-Muslim countries, such as North Korea and Venezuela, were also added to the list.
The US media dubbed the order a "Muslim ban" because Trump had previously called for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States. The president argued that the restrictions were necessary to protect Americans from future terrorist attacks.
Opinion | A short history of President Trump’s anti-Muslim bigotry — Washington Post
Also read | 86 Times Donald Trump displayed or promoted Islamophobia — Medium
His rival, Joe Biden, has accused Trump of "fanning the flames of hate in this country across the board through his words, his policies, his appointments and his deeds" and vowed to undo the "Muslim ban" on his first day in office.
Afghan War
Trump said he wants a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan to end America’s longest war, and recently announced that all US troops in the country could be home by Christmas.
In February, the Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban on phased reduction of US forces in the country. In August, he said in an interview with Axios that he expected US troop numbers in Afghanistan to be reduced to under 5,000 by election day, Nov 3.
Read | Trump unchained? Afghan troop surprise shows pre-election impulse to upend policy
He has also questioned the benefits of US military interventions in the Middle East, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However, he sent more troops to the region after the withdrawal increased tensions with Iran.
Palestine-Israel
Trump has styled himself as the most pro-Israeli US president in history.
In 2017, he recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and announced to shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Earlier this year, Trump revealed the details of his plan for the Mideast which would see Jerusalem remain Israel's "undivided" capital while the Palestinians would have their capital in "eastern Jerusalem". During his presidentship, the US has also recognised the Golan Heights as part of Israel, becoming the first country to officially do so.
The president has also advocated for the normalisation of ties between Israel and other Middle East states. In August, he revealed that Israel and the United Arab Emirates had reached a US-brokered peace agreement. The next month he announced a "peace deal" between Israel and Bahrain. Both countries later formalised the deal with Israel in a ceremony at the White House.
Read | ‘God help us’ if Trump wins re-election, Palestinian PM says
Earlier this month, Israel and Sudan agreed to normalise relations in a deal brokered with the help of the US.
Climate change
In his first year of office, Trump started the process to pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight global warming and pollution by reducing carbon emissions in nearly 200 nations.
He has rejected mainstream science on climate and said in April, "Our carbon, our atmosphere, our — the level of environmental cleanliness is at its all-time best right now" — an inaccurate claim, according to Reuters.
Read | Trump vs Biden on the environment — here’s where they stand
He does not have a climate plan on his campaign website, but an energy and environment section highlights his administration’s rescinding of Obama-era regulations including those on methane, toxic wastewater from coal plants and clean car rules.
Trade and tariffs
In a return to a core issue of his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump told voters he wants to boost domestic manufacturing.
According to Trump's election website, he imposed a 25 per cent global tariff on steel imports and a 10pc global tariff on aluminum imports in order to protect national security and strengthen domestic industries.
He withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he denounced as a "job killer" and renegotiated a North American trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
Read | An assessment of Donald Trump’s record on trade
Trump views the signing of two major trade deals — the updated pact with Canada and Mexico and phase 1 of an agreement with China — as signature achievements of his presidency. US and China signed phase 1 in January. Trump says it led to China buying roughly $200 billion over two years in US agricultural products, energy and other American products. In return, the US cancelled planned tariffs on Chinese-made smartphones, toys and laptop computers. The US also cut in half, to 7.5pc, the tariff rate levied on $120bn in other China imports.
China/Russia
Under Trump, US-China relations have slid to their lowest levels in recent history over a wide range of issues. Trump says he is the first president in decades to stand up to Beijing, and his campaign accuses Biden of appeasing China as US manufacturing jobs declined.
- Handling of virus: He criticised China for its "failure to contain the coronavirus", saying the country could have stopped it. He also termed it the "Chinese virus", a move which earned him criticism for being racist. He also suspended aid to the World Health Organisation accusing it of being "China-centric".
- Trade war: Trump began a trade war with China before reaching a partial phase 1 trade deal in January. He has since shut the door on phase 2 negotiations, expressing unhappiness with Beijing’s handling of the pandemic.
According to Trump's website, his administration has placed "25pc tariffs on approximately $250bn worth of products that are supported by China’s unfair industrial policies".
Analysis | Trump promised to win the trade war with China. He failed — CNN
Trump has made efforts to maintain relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia despite his own intelligence agencies’ confirmation of Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, which sought to aid him, and allegations that Russia secretly offered bounties for American deaths in Afghanistan.
Covid response
Over the course of the summer, Trump went from acknowledging that the pandemic may "get worse before it gets better" to declaring that the US is "rounding the corner" on the crisis. He also tested positive for the virus himself.
He admitted he tried to minimise the lethal threat of coronavirus at the outset of the pandemic in audio recordings released last month. A study from Cornell University also found that Trump has been the world's biggest driver of Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic.
He has repeatedly flouted social-distancing guidelines meant to curb the virus’ spread. He also mocked Biden at the first presidential debate for wearing a mask at events, even when he is far from others.
Read | Masks and the future of the virus: Trump in his own words
During the final presidential debate, Trump asserted that a vaccine was potentially "weeks" away. Most experts, including administration officials, have said a vaccine is unlikely to be widely available until mid-2021.
Compiled by Urooj Imran
Additional input from AP and Reuters
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