A report card on Donald Trump's first
100 days
U.S.
President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 with a long list of promises for
his first 100 days. His record has been mixed. Here are the main issues he has
confronted and what he has achieved ahead of Saturday's 100th day.
HEALTHCARE
A pledge to repeal and
replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's signature
domestic policy, was among Trump's central 2016 election campaign promises. It
is also one of the biggest failures of his first 100 days.
A bill in the House of
Representatives was withdrawn in late March when Republicans could not muster
enough votes for passage even though they control the chamber.
A reworked plan this week
has drawn support from the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative bloc that
helped sink the original bill. That improves the chances of a deal in the House
though it is unclear if it can win enough support from moderate Republicans,
and it would face tougher challenges in the Senate.
TAX CUTS
Trump repeatedly promised
the biggest tax reform since the 1980s. This week he proposed legislation to
slash the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, cut the top
personal income tax rate to 35 percent, repeal the inheritance tax, and
temporarily slash the rate on overseas profits repatriated to the United
States. The plan, however, is vague and even senior Republican lawmakers
described it as offering only "guideposts" for legislative changes.
FOREIGN POLICY
Trump's foreign policy has
been marked by major shifts.
Russia: Trump spoke
admiringly of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the campaign and
indicated he wanted a rapprochement with Moscow. But the administration has not
been able to fend off a controversy that has led to a congressional
investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including possible
links between Trump’s campaign and Moscow. Trump has cooled considerably
toward Putin. Putin condemned Trump's decision in early April to launch cruise
missile strikes on Syria in punishment for a chemical weapons attack by the
Syrian government, and Trump said the relationship with Russia "may be at
an all-time low."
North Korea: A growing
nuclear and missile threat from North Korea is perhaps Trump's most serious
security challenge. He has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit
the United States with a nuclear missile, a capability experts say Pyongyang
could have some time after 2020. Trump's administration aims to push North
Korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programs through tougher
international sanctions and diplomatic pressure. He has pressed China, North
Korea’s biggest trading partner, to do more to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear
program.
NATO: Trump alarmed U.S.
allies during the election campaign by calling NATO "obsolete." In
mid-April he lavished praise on NATO and said it is not obsolete.
Syria: Trump had vowed to
avoid entanglements in Middle East conflicts and, in his first days in office,
said he did not want the United States dragged deeper into the Syrian conflict.
But he responded to the chemical weapons attack, which killed dozens of people,
by ordering strikes on a Syrian air base. That won praise from allies in Europe
and from U.S. lawmakers.
IMMIGRATION AND A WALL
Trump promised a crackdown
on illegal immigrants entering the United States and the deportation of illegal
immigrants living in the country, especially those with criminal records. He
also pledged to build a wall along the border and to get Mexico to pay for it.
The approach and strong
rhetoric have had an effect with the number of migrants caught trying to enter
the country illegally hitting a 17-year low in March. The number of children
traveling with a guardian and apprehended at the southern U.S. border plunged
by more than 90 percent in March from December.
Trump insists he will build
the border wall, but in order to lift the threat of a government shutdown, he
gave way on his demand this week that Congress include full funding for it in a
spending bill.
Trump campaigned on a
promise to bar the entry of Muslims into the United States, casting it as part
of the fight against the Islamic State militant group. On Jan. 27, he ordered a
temporary ban on the entry of nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries,
including Syria. He also indefinitely banned refugees from Syria and
temporarily banned refugees from all other countries. A federal judge
temporarily halted the ban, and a federal appeals court upheld that ruling.
Trump issued a revised travel ban in early March, only to see it again blocked
in federal court.
Similarly, a federal judge
this week blocked his order to withhold federal funding from so-called
sanctuary cities, which offer safe harbor to illegal immigrants.
SUPREME COURT
This is one of Trump's
clearest wins. His promise to select a like-minded successor to Justice Antonin
Scalia, who died early last year, was kept with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch.
The Senate confirmed Gorsuch despite Democratic opposition, restoring a
conservative majority on the court.
TRADE
Trump withdrew the United
States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal just days after his
inauguration, keeping a campaign promise.
Trump had both threatened
to withdraw from or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), blaming it for an exodus of U.S. jobs to Mexico. The threats of
withdrawal had jolted financial markets at various times. On Thursday, Trump
extended an olive branch, saying he would not terminate NAFTA after the leaders
of Mexico and Canada asked him to work on a new trade deal.
Trump also ordered a review of the
causes of U.S. trade deficits, such as dumping of products below cost; unfair
subsidies; "misaligned" currencies; and "non-reciprocal"
trade practices.
Trump had vowed to name
China a currency manipulator, meaning the United States could then impose
tariffs on Chinese goods. But in mid-April he changed course and said that
China was not a currency manipulator.
REGULATION
Trump has acted
aggressively on his promise to eliminate regulations that he said were hurting
the U.S. economy. He issued a permit for the controversial Keystone XL
pipeline. He also rescinded Obama-era climate change regulations, including the
Clean Power Plan; a ban on coal leasing on federal lands; and rules to curb
methane emissions from oil and gas production.
As part of a push to open
up more federal lands to drilling, mining and other development, Trump ordered
a review to identify national monuments that can be rescinded or resized. Legal
challenges are expected.
His administration has
approved a dozen measures rolling back regulations passed in the final months
of the Obama administration on the environment, energy, education and financial
services.
BUY AMERICAN, HIRE AMERICAN
Trump has pledged to keep
U.S. companies from shipping jobs overseas. Before taking office, Trump used
the muscle of his election victory to threaten companies about moving jobs
abroad. He claimed victories with the Carrier unit of United Technologies Corp
and with Ford Motor Co, though Carrier still cut hundreds of jobs in Indiana
and Ford said it scrapped plans for a Mexican factory because of declining
demand for small cars in North America. The jury is still out on how successful
he can be in keeping jobs from going overseas.
Trump ordered a review of
the H-1B visa program, which brings highly skilled foreign workers into the
United States. He says he wants to modify or replace the current lottery system
with a merit-based system for highly skilled workers.
'DRAIN THE SWAMP'
This was one of Trump's
rallying cries during the campaign, saying he would change Washington by
cracking down on the influence of special interests and political elites. He
criticized Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for her paid speeches to Wall
Street bank Goldman Sachs but has named several former Goldman executives to
his inner circle. He did ban appointees of any executive agency from lobbying
for five years after leaving government employment and permanently banned
future former appointees from activity on behalf of any government or political
party abroad.
