Trump's agenda if he wins in November: trade, immigration, free speech, education

Former President Donald Trump plans to deport millions of migrants, reshape global trade with expensive tariffs and fill the government with loyalists if he wins a second four-year White House term in the November presidential election.

From revamping education to an “America-first government,” the former commander-in-chief is pledging to kick-start the following programs and policies once back in office.

Tariffs

Trump has mentioned the idea of 10 percent and higher tariffs on all goods imported into the country, claiming it will eliminate trade deficits. He also wants to implement a four-year plan to ensure the U.S. “no longer needs to rely on China for essential medical and national security goods” and prohibit Chinese ownership of any critical infrastructure in the U.S.

Energy

The former president plans to boost domestic energy production, lower fuel costs, eliminate the Green New Deal, and allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, fossil fuels accounted for 81% of US energy production in 2022.

Immigration

If elected in November, the Republican president plans to reinstate first-term immigration policies, including limiting asylum access at the U.S.-Mexico border, eliminating automatic citizenship for those born to immigrant parents in the U.S., deputize the National Guard and local law enforcement to “rapidly removing illegal alien gang members and criminals” while implementing a merit-based immigration system.

Trump also promises to impose a total naval embargo on cartel ships, ordering the U.S. Department of Defense to “inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership and operations” and “designate cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations." He will also tell other governments to do the same and “expose every bribe and kickback that allows these criminal networks to preserve their brutal reign.

Law and Order

The GOP frontrunner has also talked about granting record funding to hire police officers in the U.S. and criticizing the Biden administration and the “radical left” for seeking to defund police departments. He claimed that murder rates in Democratic cities have increased since he left office. According to the Pew Research Center, murder in the U.S. increased by 30 percent in 2020 and remained “considerably higher than before the coronavirus pandemic” in 2022. Preliminary data suggests a significant decrease in the murder rate in 2023.

Education

Trump said he would remove “Biden’s radical left ideology out of our military and rehire every patriot who was unjustly fired” and “standing in the world and American leadership abroad.” He also plans to cut federal funding for schools and programs that promote ideals considered to be on the radical left agenda, including critical race theory, gender ideology, weaponizing civics education, and transgender athletes competing in the gender division they identify with.

Project 2025, created by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., also plans on eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.

In return, he will reward schools that abolish tenure for K-12 teachers, implement the Parental Bill of Rights, cut the number of administrators, establish elections for school principals voted on by the parents, and protect the “Constitutional right” of prayer in public schools. The U.S. Department of Education allows private prayer in public schools but says, “Officials may not prescribe prayers to be recited by students or school authorities.”

Free speech

Trump says he will restore free speech, enacting legislation to limit social media platforms’ ability to censor or restrict their users’ First Amendment rights. He has also pledged to continue appointing judges and justices “who believe in enforcing the law, not their own political agenda.”

Reuters contributed to the reporting of the story.

Victor Hagan is the Alabama Election Reporting Fellow for the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at vhagan@gannett.com or on X @TheVictorHagan. To support his work, subscribe to the Advertiser.